Trump sues JPMorgan, CEO Jamie Dimon over debanking allegations

Jan 22 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a $5 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase on accusations of debanking, according to a complaint posted on the CNBC website. Trump said JPMorgan violated its own policies by singling him out, in a bid to ride the "political tide", and terminating several of his accounts. He said the bank "unabashedly" boasted for 225 years it served customers with respect, and worked diligently to uphold its core values. "Despite claiming to hold these principles dear, JPMC violated them by unilaterally – and without warning or remedy -terminating several of plaintiffs' bank accounts," Trump said. Trump had said over the weekend he plans to sue JPMorgan sometime in the next two weeks for allegedly "debanking" him ‍following the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. "While we regret President Trump has sued us, we believe the suit has no merit. We respect the President's right to sue us and our right to defend ourselves," JPMorgan said in a statement. "JPMC does not close accounts for political or religious reasons. We do close accounts because they create legal or regulatory risk for the company. We regret having to do so but often rules and regulatory expectations lead us to do so," the bank added. The White House said it will refer the matter to the president's outside counsel. Banks have faced growing political pressure in recent years, particularly from conservatives who argue that lenders have improperly adopted "woke" political positions and, in some cases, discriminated against certain industries such as firearms and fossil fuels. That pressure has intensified during Trump's second term, with the Republican president claiming in interviews that some banks refused to provide services to him and other conservatives. The banks have denied the allegation. A U.S. banking regulator said last month the nine largest U.S. banks in the past had placed restrictions on providing financial services to some controversial industries in a practice commonly described as "debanking". Last year, JPMorgan said it was cooperating with inquiries from government agencies and other entities regarding its policies and procedures in light of the Trump administration's push to scrutinize banks over alleged debanking. U.S. regulators have examined themselves to see if overly strict supervisory policies discouraged banks from providing services to certain sectors. Trump-led officials have also moved to loosen oversight, with federal bank regulators last year saying they would stop policing banks based on so-called "reputational risk". Under that approach, supervisors could penalize institutions for activities that were not explicitly prohibited but could expose them to negative publicity or costly litigation. Banks have increasingly complained the reputational risk standard is vague and subjective, giving supervisors wide discretion to discourage firms from providing services to certain people or industries. The industry has also argued regulators need to update anti-money laundering rules, which can force banks to close suspicious accounts without giving customers an explanation. Shares of JPMorgan were last up 1.2% in afternoon trading. The lawsuit was first reported by Fox Business earlier on Thursday. Trump's attorney filed the lawsuit on Thursday morning in Florida state court in Miami on behalf of the president and several of his hospitality companies. (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru, and Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Krishna Chandra Eluri)

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