AFFM Commends Trump Administration’s Executive Order to Address “Debanking” Concerns

EO Welcomed Step to Rein in Government-Driven Debanking, As AFFM Looks Forward to Continued Progress on the Issue

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump today issued an executive order directing financial regulators to officially remove “reputation risk” in the supervisory process and tasking the U.S. Treasury to work with Congress to develop a comprehensive strategy to address government-driven debanking.

Americans for Free Markets (AFFM) Advisor and former U.S. Senator Pat Toomey issued the following statement in response:

“I commend President Trump’s decisive action to address government-driven ‘debanking’ – where banks, under pressure from politicized federal regulators, were driven to terminate or deny services to lawful customers.

“By forbidding regulators’ use of ‘reputation risk’ as an evaluation metric for financial institutions, the Trump administration is taking a necessary step to support businesses and consumers nationwide following years of government overreach under the Obama and Biden administrations targeting the firearms and crypto industries.

“Still, more work needs to be done in Congress, and at the regulatory level, to ensure additional safeguards against government-driven ‘debanking,’ especially under future administrations. This should include codifying the removal of ‘reputation risk’ in bank examinations through legislation such as the FIRM Act and updating archaic laws and regulations, including current Anti-Money Laundering and Know-Your-Customer rules. Further, we need a national Fair Access standard that would forbid banks from denying services to people or businesses based on the political affiliation or views of those people or business owners.

“As a life-long free market champion, I look forward to continued progress toward ending government-driven ‘debanking’ and thank the current administration for continuing the momentum to curb government overreach in our banking regulatory system.”

Today’s executive order comes on the heels of the America First Policy Institute’s research report explaining “debanking” and its origin, impact, as well as additional steps to end it. The full report can be viewed HERE.