FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—President Donald Trump called out Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan over reports of “debanking” conservatives—and now a conservative watchdog group is calling on its fellow bank shareholders to boot Moynihan from the board.
The National Legal and Policy Center made a filing this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, making the case against re-electing Moynihan to the board—where he is also chairman—asserting a “betrayal of customers’ trust, bias in banking services, and poor prioritization with regard to shareholder interests.”
“The company under Mr. Moynihan’s leadership has also engaged in the highly controversial practice of ‘debanking,’ a term used to describe financial institutions that selectively close customer accounts or deny services based on political or ideological beliefs,” the NLPC motion states.
“[Bank of America] closed accounts that belonged to Christian charitable organizations and firearm manufacturers, citing ‘risk tolerance’ as justification,” the NLPC further argues. “While the bank asserted that closures followed objective risk assessments, critics argue these actions align more with political bias or pressure from external ideological groups.”
Voting on board membership is open through the annual shareholder meeting on April 22.
Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin said the bank supports legislation from Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the Financial Integrity and Regulation Management (FIRM) Act, to scrap regulations that could force debanking.
“Given our client base of 70 million and opening 12 million new accounts last year alone, it’s clear that we are focused on being a bank that serves everyone, regardless of political viewpoints,” Halldin told The Daily Signal. “We are required to follow extensive government regulations that sometimes result in requirements to exit relationships. We never close accounts for political reasons and don’t have a political litmus test.”
During his Jan. 23 comments to the World Economic Forum, Trump took questions and answers from certain attendees, including Moynihan.
“You’ve done a fantastic job, but I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America,” Trump told Moynihan in response to a question. “They don’t take conservative business. … I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives because what you’re doing is wrong.”
The NLPC faulted Moynihan’s “failed management” and Bank of America’s focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as well as ESG, short for environmental, social, and governance.
“Brian Moynihan has overstayed his usefulness at Bank of America. His 15-year tenure has been marked by chasing every politicized fad of the moment, whether it’s climate alarmism and Net Zero financing priorities, DEI policies in employment and lending programs, or his leadership role within WEF to globalize business standards that are often antithetical to capitalism and free markets,” Chesser told The Daily Signal. “His finger-in-the-wind style of leadership now has him running away from all those so-called ‘principles,’ now that they’ve fallen into disfavor.”
Last month, Bank of America—following a pattern with other corporations—abandoned DEI policies.
The NLPC’s message to shareholders also referenced the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government report critical of numerous financial institutions, Bank of America among them.
“The committee and select subcommittee began this investigation into government-led financial surveillance after a whistleblower disclosed that following the events of Jan. 6, 2021, Bank of America (BoA), voluntarily and without legal process, provided the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with a list of names of all individuals who used a BoA credit or debit card in the Washington, D.C. region around that time,” the House report says. “In response to these allegations and corroborating testimony from FBI officials, the committee and select subcommittee requested documents from BoA and six other national financial institutions about the provision of Americans’ private financial information to federal law enforcement without legal process.”
In this case, Bank of America followed the policies required by the Justice Department and Treasury Department, Halldin said.
“We followed all applicable laws in our interactions with the Treasury Department and law enforcement,” Halldin said. “These interactions began when the Treasury Department urgently gathered major banks and law enforcement on Jan. 15, 2021 and shared information regarding potential criminal activity that could disrupt the upcoming inauguration. We have cooperated with the committee as they evaluate whether the laws we complied with should be changed.”
The NLPC has in previous years called for the board chairman and CEO to be separate positions at Bank of America.
“NLPC understands it might be counterintuitive (but not inconsistent with principles of ‘independent chair’ shareholder proposals) for shareholders to vote against Mr. Moynihan as a director (and consequently, as Chairman of the Board), while leaving him the role of CEO,” the Wednesday filing says. “But the time for moving forward with the succession plan for him in his executive role is now as well. A vote to endorse his continued leadership would signify tacit support for his troubling record of consumer rights violations, ideologically-driven pursuits, and the ill-advised, concentrated power that has taken him on his unaccountable path.”
