Major banks that over several years have restricted access to services to religious and politically conservative groups are finally taking steps to end that discriminatory practice.

In March, the nation’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, agreed to adopt language to protect against future instances of religious debanking, and Bank of America has now followed suit.

But many other banks have yet to adopt such protections, and President Donald Trump issued an executive order Aug. 7 stating: “It is the policy of the United States that no American should be denied access to financial services because of their constitutionally or statutorily protected beliefs, affiliations, or political views, and to ensure that politicized or unlawful debanking is not used as a tool to inhibit such beliefs, affiliations, or political views.”

The order directs federal banking regulators to notify financial institutions under their jurisdiction that they must make efforts to identify and reinstate any previous clients that had been denied service, and to identify all potential clients that had been denied service and give them a renewed option to use those services.

As reports of discriminatory debanking surfaced in recent years, Christians sounded the alarm, including Franklin Graham, as he gave the keynote address at the 2023 National Religious Broadcasters convention. “We are living in a cancel culture that wants to destroy Christian organizations,” Franklin said. “They want us to shut our mouths. They don’t want to hear from us. Now, if you don’t preach the Gospel, you don’t have anything to worry about. If you’re not going to talk about sin, you don’t have anything to worry about. But if you’re going to try to preach and proclaim the Gospel, they’re going to try to shut you up.”

Dozens of Christian organizations reportedly have had financial services denied in recent years. For example:

• In 2019, evangelist Nick Vujicic’s bank closed his account over his support of a pro-life cause. “I got kicked out of a bank with no warning,” Vujicic told CBN News. “They froze my credit cards, froze my debit cards. They gave me a letter to say that they did a review of me as a client and they don’t want anything to do with me.”

• In 2021, Arkansas-based Family Council had its credit card processor account closed, preventing them from accepting donations online. The processor was owned by JPMorgan Chase.

• In 2022, the National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF) opened an account with JPMorgan Chase. The organization is headed by Sam Brownback, a former governor of Kansas, former U.S. Senator and ambassador. After just a few weeks, the bank closed NCRF’s account. When the organization asked the reason for the account closure, bank employees said they were not allowed to say why but that the decision had been made at the corporate level and was irrevocable. Eventually the bank told NCRF it would consider reinstating the account if the organization would disclose a list of donors who contributed more than 10% of its operating expenses, give the bank a list of political candidates it might support and divulge the criteria NCRF uses to decide whom to support politically. NCRF refused and found a different bank.

• In 2023, Indigenous Advance Ministries, which partners with Ugandan ministries to aid orphaned and vulnerable children, received a notice from Bank of America stating: “Upon review of your account(s), we have determined you’re operating a business type we have chosen not to service at Bank of America.”

But things appear to be trending in the right direction. In addition to the president’s executive order, U.S. Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is sponsoring legislation with bipartisan support to end discriminatory debanking. And Bank of America’s recent announcement was welcomed by Christian observers.

“Bank of America is taking steps in the right direction to protect its customers from discrimination, but it has a long way to go to rebuild trust in the marketplace, said Jeremy Tedesco, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) senior counsel and senior vice president of corporate engagement, in response to the bank’s policy change. ADF has engaged repeatedly with bank leaders to change its policy. “We look forward to more banks following in the steps of JPMorgan Chase, and now Bank of America, as they come into compliance with President Trump’s recent executive order.”

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