Several state treasurers and other officials sent a letter to Bank of America warning the banking giant of apparently targeting customers with conservative politics by de-banking them — however, Tennessee State Treasurer David Lillard’s signature was absent.
The letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said its signatories are concerned that Bank of America has a “track record of discriminating against religious ministries,” a “systemic bias” against politically conservative views, and supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“De-banking” refers to when a banking organization closes a customer’s account, normally for the organization to avoid taking on financial risk.
The Tennessee Star reached out to the Tennessee Department of Treasury via email asking Lillard (pictured above) if he would condemn Bank of America’s de-banking of conservatives on an apparently political basis. The Star also inquired whether Lillard would sign the letter but received no response by press time.
The signatories of the letter represented 13 states, including Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.
The letter also highlights Bank of America’s participation in a climate change initiative called the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, of which Wells Fargo is also a member. The letter’s signatories argued that Bank of America’s membership in such a group would “necessarily lead to debanking,” referencing another letter sent to Wells Fargo — also a Net-Zero Banking Alliance member — by a number of state attorneys general.
Bank of America must eliminate official language used to discriminate against religious and conservative viewpoints, state that it will not discriminate based on viewpoints in its terms of service, and withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the letter signatories said. Bank of America must respond to the letter’s demands before May 17.
The Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a United Nations-convened initiative, requires its member banks to make their “lending and investment portfolios to align with pathways to net-zero [carbon emissions] by 2050 or sooner,” according to its website.
The Alliance boasts $74 trillion in assets, 41 percent of all global banking assets, and 144 member banks across the globe, including Citi, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs.
“Many of the funds we manage or oversee include pension funds and endowment funds which are direct shareholders of Bank of America, and as stewards of our states’ investment dollars, we are concerned that the company’s recent pattern of politically motivated de-banking constitutes a breach of its fiduciary duty,” the letter said. “Under the law, you and the other officers of the company must act to maximize shareholder value and must not subordinate the company’s long-term financial well-being to extraneous political ends.”
Bank of America, along with USAA, made headlines for de-banking constitutional scholar John Eastman after Eastman faced widespread backlash for advising Trump around the time of the 2020 election, The Daily Caller reported. The two banks reportedly gave Eastman no warning and not much chance to reopen his accounts.
Neither bank specified whether political concerns were why they de-banked Eastman, The Daily Caller reported. However, Eastman voiced his suspicion, calling the banks’ behavior “rather despicable.”
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X/Twitter.
