Cato Institute analyst Nicholas Anthony said on Thursday that most U.S. debanking cases stem from government pressure rather than banks’ own policies, according to a detailed report stated. The report also outlines definitions and causes for debanking and links to a related debanking blog post for further context.
Anthony divides debanking into political or religious closures, operational decisions, and government-driven actions. He finds government intervention to be the dominant category in public cases.
Government pressure appears in two forms, direct and indirect, the report says. “Furthermore, the agency failed to provide a timeline or follow up with those financial institutions. So, in practice, these letters were effectively termination orders,” Anthony wrote about agency letters.
The report notes crypto firms have faced account closures and shifting banking access for years. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon denied that his bank debanks for religious or political reasons, and executives like Jack Mallers and Houston Morgan publicly reported account closures without explanation.
Anthony urges congressional reforms to reduce government leverage over banks, including changes to the Bank Secrecy Act, ending confidentiality that shields enforcement requests, and removing reputational-risk rules. “If Congress wants to bring relief and reduce the debanking phenomenon, it’s time to eliminate the confidentiality that has shrouded the system,” the report concluded (Ed. note: the Cato team also summarized findings and commentary in a post posted on X).
