ICYMI: AFFM’s David Ibsen Joins the Mike Gallagher Show to Discuss Opportunities for the Trump Admin. & Congress to Ensure Fair Access to Banking

“Let banks use their expertise to evaluate customers that they want to service and the sectors they want to work in. It shouldn’t be that we are forcing banks to provide services in areas in which they don’t represent expertise.”

In case you missed it, Americans for Free Markets Executive Director David Ibsen joined the Mike Gallagher Show last week to discuss government-driven debanking, the vague, outdated laws that led us here, and what Congress and the administration can do to ensure fair access to banking, under current and future administrations.

On the need for action from Congress and current momentum…

David noted that continued efforts by President Trump, such as issuing an executive order to “end politicized or government motivated debanking in August” is certainly a step in the right direction. However, he stressed that lasting protection requires congressional action. To prevent future administrations from weaponizing the financial system, Congress must codify clear legislation to ensure a national framework for banks and regulators to comply with.

[T]here’s a smaller subset of banking decisions that are made because of politicized regulatory environment, where you might have politicized supervisory entities that are disfavoring certain industries or certain groups, and they’re putting a lot of pressure on banks to reconsider their ties to those particular sectors, And that’s something that hopefully now with President Trump’s executive order and subsequent actions in Congress, we can prevent from happening again in the future.

He also highlighted the ongoing efforts of U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), who have introduced legislation to codify fair-access standards and strip reputational risk considerations from regulatory agencies. Their legislation aims to ensure that future administrations cannot use the regulatory state as a political weapon to advance partisan agendas.

“Importantly, we want something codified in Congress that ends vague reputational risk factors to evaluate accounts and establishes a national fair access standard.”

The Backstory…

Ibsen gave a detailed explanation of the root causes of debanking and highlighted that banks are “dealing with complex and politicized regulatory framework environments that push them to make decisions that lead to individuals losing access to bank accounts.”

David also pointed to recent findings from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), emphasizing how fresh details about debanking are intensifying calls to put an end to government-driven account closures.

The full interview can be viewed HERE.