By Nupur Anand and Saeed Azhar
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Bank of America will be engaging with President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress on regulations that the bank said can lead to it exiting banking relationships with a customer, a spokesperson said on Friday.
Trump singled out JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America specifically on Thursday as not providing banking services to conservatives, echoing Republican complaints about the industry. The two banks on Thursday denied they made banking decisions based on politics.
Wall Street banks have been accused by Republicans of “woke capitalism” as well as de-banking gunmakers, fossil fuel companies and others perceived to be aligned with the political right.
“We take this issue very seriously,” a BofA spokesperson said on Friday. “We will be engaging with the administration and Congress regarding the extensive government regulations that sometimes result in requirements to exit relationships.”
The spokesperson said the bank serves more than 70 million clients and welcomes conservatives.
“We never close accounts for political reasons and don’t have a political litmus test,” the spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Nupur Anand and Saeed Azhar in New York and Pete Schroeder in Washington; Editing by Megan Davies and Diane Craft)
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