How Banks Could Have Preempted De-Banking Christians & Conservatives Allegations

How Banks Could Have Preempted De-Banking Christians & Conservatives Allegations

In mid-April 2024, news coverage of the narrative that banks are de-banking Christians and conservatives surged, following warnings from Republican state officials to Bank of America over alleged politicized practices, according to PeakMetrics narrative intelligence.

• American conservatives appear to have picked up the issue from over the pond. The mentions from July-August 2023 generally relate to the UK government beginning to look into concerns over banks allegedly blacklisting certain customers over their politics — namely former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage.

• The narrative began to cross over to American conservatives in Fall 2023 — including a CBN News report on September 18th and an October 16th article from the Christian Post. 

• The issue began to pick up real political steam in late February 2024, when Tennessee and Arizona legislatures introduced bills that would prohibit financial de-banking for political or religious beliefs. 

In March 2024, banks needed to begin preparing to deal with this reputational threat going viral based on the bills introduced in February. 

• The Alliance Defending Freedom took up the issue publicly in March, testifying before Congress and petitioning the SEC. 

• By mid-March, major conservative publications were really picking up coverage of this narrative. 

A month later, the narrative exploded with the state lawsuits against Bank of America. Other banks mentioned in relation to this narrative, other than BoA, include USAA, Chase, Charles Schwaab, and Wells Fargo.