JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has denied that his bank debanks customers based on their religious or political affiliation. He stated that he has, in fact, been actively working to change the rules surrounding debanking for over a decade.
During an interview with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” on Sunday, Dimon said his bank has cut off services to people from all walks of life, but political affiliations have never been a factor in these decisions.
This statement comes amidst allegations from Devin Nunes, the chair of the President’s intelligence advisory board and CEO of Trump Media. Nunes alleges that his company was debanked by JPMorgan and that it was among more than 400 Trump-linked individuals and organizations whose banking records were subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith as part of an investigation.
Jack Mallers, the CEO of the Bitcoin Lightning Network payments company Strike, also accused JPMorgan of closing his personal accounts without explanation last month. This incident sparked concerns about a potential "Operation Chokepoint 2.0."
Houston Morgan, the head of marketing at non-custodial crypto trading platform ShapeShift, shared a similar story in November.
"People have to grow up here, OK, and stop making up things and stuff like that," Dimon said. "I can’t talk about an individual account. We do not debank people for religious or political affiliations," Dimon stated.
"We do debank them. They have religious or political affiliations. We debank people who are Democrats. We debank people who are Republicans. We have debanked different religious folks. Never was that for that reason."
Dimon Advocates for Debanking Rule Changes
Crypto firms have been facing account closures and denials of banking services for years, and many in the industry have stated that these actions are part of a policy-driven effort to suppress the digital assets sector.
However, Dimon expressed his dislike for debanking and emphasized his desire for the rules around reporting requirements, which can lead to debanking, to be changed.
"I actually applaud the Trump administration, who’s trying to say that debanking is bad and we should change the rules. Well, damn it, I have been asking to change the rules now for 15 years. So change the rules."
"It is really customer unfriendly, and we’re debanking people because of suspected things, or negative media, or all these various things," Dimon added.
In August, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing banking regulators to investigate claims of debanking made by the crypto sector and conservatives.
JPMorgan Has Offered Recommendations to Curb Debanking, According to Dimon
Dimon explained that one of the rules banks are required to follow is sharing information with the government when subpoenaed. However, he also claimed that JPMorgan has provided recommendations aimed at reducing reporting requirements and instances of debanking.
"We don’t give information to the government just because they ask. We’re subpoenaed. We are required by court to give it to the government. And I have been following subpoenas with this administration, the last administration, the administration before that and the one before that. And I don’t agree with a lot of it," Dimon said.
"The government does a lot of things that can anger banks. So, let’s just take a deep breath and fix the problems, as opposed to, like, blame someone who’s put in that position," he added.
Dimon also noted that both sides of the political spectrum are equally responsible when it comes to pressuring banks.
"Democratic and Republican governments have come after us both; let’s not act like this is just one side doing this. This has been going on for a long time. And we should stop militarizing the government that kind of way."