President Trump took an unexpected swipe on Thursday at the big banks that have cheered his return to office, as he raised longstanding Republican complaints that they are discriminated against by major lenders.
The moment came almost as an aside, as Mr. Trump was participating virtually in a question-and-answer session with executives gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
His questioner, Brian T. Moynihan, Bank of America’s chief executive, asked a rote, prepared question about the new administration’s plans for the economy.
Mr. Trump capped off a nearly two-minute response by observing:
“By the way, speaking of you — and you’ve done a fantastic job — but I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America,” Mr. Trump said.
He continued, referring to JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon (who was not on the stage), “You and Jamie and everybody, I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives, because what you’re doing is wrong.”
Mr. Moynihan responded with what appeared to be a nervous laugh, and by changing the subject to next year’s World Cup.
A Bank of America spokesman, Bill Halldin, later said in a statement that the lender never closed accounts for political reasons, but was “required to follow extensive government rules and regulations that sometimes result in decisions to exit client relationships.”
Mr. Trump’s swerve to the subject was a surprise in the moment, not the least because bankers have been ebullient about his second term, which they hope will touch off an era of profit-making encouraged by relaxed regulations. Yet the topic of political discrimination is a well-trodden one that Mr. Trump occasionally brought up during his campaign.
For years, conservatives have complained about diversity, equity and inclusion programs at big lenders about the curtailing of investments in fossil fuels and energy; and have accused banks of closing accounts, or debanking, of religious groups.
Those concerns have been echoed by cryptocurrency backers and prominent venture capitalists who now make up a major bloc of support for Mr. Trump. They were also the subject of a letter last year from Republican attorneys general to Bank of America that said the lender was “responsible for some of the worst-known instances of debanking.” Bank of America replied with a letter denying the accusations.
In response to complaints of debanking, banking groups generally respond by blaming regulations that require them to flag and automatically close accounts that show suspicious activities associated with money laundering. They point out that complaints about such closures come from customers large and small across the political spectrum.
A JPMorgan spokeswoman, Patricia Wexler, said that the onus lay with “regulatory ambiguity.”
“We follow the law and guidance from our regulators and have long said there are problems with the current framework that Washington must address,” she said in a statement.
