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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is addressing controversy over how and why some American citizens and businesses are abruptly finding themselves kicked out of the banking system.
After meeting with Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C. on the subject of “debanking,” Dimon told reporters that Chase never drops customers over their religious or political affiliations.
Instead, Dimon said unclear federal guidelines, especially around anti-money laundering rules, force banks to deny services out of compliance fears, reports Yahoo Finance.
When squarely asked if regulators are to blame for debanking, Dimon responded, “Pretty much, yeah.”
“There are a lot of things that should be fixed. [Anit-Money laundering laws] are extraordinary, and it does cause a lot of people to be pushed out of the system because banks were afraid of being sued, fined, because if, after the fact, something goes wrong — coulda, woulda, shoulda — you could pay a billion dollars.”
Dimon’s remarks come after President Trump hammered Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase during a virtual World Economic Forum session, accusing them of wrongly denying conservatives access to bank accounts.
Republican lawmakers are now pushing for legislation that would clearly explain when banks can and cannot reject services for customers.
The list of bankers included in the closed-door meeting in Washington included Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf, Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank and CEOs from several other large US financial institutions.
