Kris Kobach says Bank of America is de-banking conservative accounts. Here's what it means

Jack Harvel, Topeka Capital-Journal

Sun, Apr 21, 2024, 3:10 AM 4 min read

Kobach said BOA discriminates against groups for political or religious reasons, pointing to its denial of services for organizations that work in firearms, fossil fuels, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement contractors, and private prisons. He also pointed to BOA cancelling existing accounts with conservative accounts.

“Your discriminatory behavior is a serious threat to free speech and religious freedom, is potentially illegal, and is causing political and regulatory backlash. Your bank needs to be transparent with and assure us, its shareholders, and others that it will not continue to de-bank customers for their speech or religious exercise,” Kobach wrote.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach made several demands of Bank of America in a letter co-signed by 14 other attorneys general.

BOA denied Kobach's charges, saying that religious beliefs aren't a factor in any account-closing decision.

"We are proud to provide banking services to non-profit organizations affiliated with diverse faith communities throughout the United States," a BOA spokesperson told the Capital-Journal.

Who got 'de-banked?'

Kobach highlighted the cancelation of services for two Christian organizations that train ministers to serve and evangelize in developing countries.

In 2020, BOA informed Timothy Two Project International that it canceled their account after nine years. In 2023, Memphis-based Indigenous Advance — which collaborates with Ugandan ministries to provide goods and services to impoverished Ugandans — also got notice that their accounts were being canceled. The services of a church that donated to Indigenous Advance also were canceled.

In both instances, BOA told the organizations that they were operating a business type that they’ve chosen not to service, and for Indigenous Advance that it doesn’t align with the bank’s risk tolerance. In later statements, BOA said Indigenous Advance was collecting debt and operating outside of the United States, which is against its policies.

"Our U.S. division that serves small businesses doesn’t offer banking services to organizations that provide debt collection services for a variety of risk-related considerations and doesn’t serve small businesses operating outside the United States," the BOA spokesperson said.

Kobach called the cancelling of Indigenous Advance particularly troubling, because a year before a different financial institution, JP Morgan Chase, refused to provide services for Sam Brownback’s National Committee for Religious Freedom unless it disclosed donor information.

Sam Brownback, former ambassador at-large to the U.S. office of international religious freedom and 46th governor of Kansas, saw his organization's banking service with JP Morgan Chase terminated.

Is de-banking illegal?

The letter says that BOA’s cancelling accounts of religious institutions could run afoul of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act, which bars religious discrimination in credit applications and home loans. There are also state-level fair-lending laws that de-banking could violate.

“Financial institutions set the stage for politicized de-banking by adopting vague and subjective ‘reputational risk’ policies and prohibitions on ‘hate’ that are susceptible to abuse,” Kobach wrote.

Kobach cites an 8% score from the Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index to support the anti-conservative bias present in BOA’s policies. That metric is created by executives at the conservative think-tank Alliance Defending Freedom and doesn’t assign a single company a score higher than 50%. BOA’s score is just two points lower than that of Fox News, the largest conservative news outlet in the country.

Kobach also singled out DEI trainings that encourage employees to be “woke at work” as ways conservatives could be excluded from BOA services.

“These examples, and the de-banking stories above, strongly suggest that Bank of America is not just occasionally canceling groups under questionable circumstances. Instead, it appears to be systematically punishing religious and political views with which it disagrees,” Kobach wrote.

Demands from Kobach and others

Kobach and the 14 other AGs demanded that BOA provide them with a written report about their account cancellation policies, participate in the aforementioned Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index, support shareholder proposals protecting religious and political diversity, and update their terms of service to state they don’t discriminate on the basis of religious or political views or speech.

Though there are laws protecting religious groups from discrimination, they don’t extend to political beliefs. But across the aisle there are politicians that also have raised concerns about de-banking.

In February, U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, along with U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley sent letters to the four largest U.S. banks asking them to prevent discrimination against de-banking targeting Muslim Americans.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Bank of America is discriminating against conservatives: Kris Kobach

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