JPMorgan Chase urges 'no' vote on shareholder proposal to evaluate alleged religious discrimination at bank
Chase Bank allegedly 'debanked' the nonprofit National Committee for Religious Freedom last year
JP Morgan Chase CEO says other states should learn from Florida and Texas's "pro-business" culture
J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon praised Florida and Texas's "pro-business", "pro-America" policies during an interview with Bloomberg TV Monday. Dimon was being interviewed at a J.P. Morgan conference being held in Miami.
The board of directors at JPMorgan Chase are urging shareholders to vote against a resolution calling on the banking company to evaluate how it oversees risks based on criteria that include religious and political views.
David L. Bahnsen, a Christian who is also the founder and managing partner of The Bahnsen Group that manages more than $4 billion in assets, is slated to present a resolution about the issue at a shareholders meeting Tuesday, according to the Christian Post.
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The resolution demands JPMorgan Chase "respect civil rights by identifying potential factors that may contribute to discrimination in the provision of services based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or social, political, or religious views."
The resolution comes amid allegations that the bank closed the account of religious freedom nonprofit National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF) because of its religious and political views.
"In a particularly egregious display of viewpoint discrimination, JP Morgan Chase refused to process payments for a GOP-aligned organization," according to the Statement on Debanking and Free Speech signed by Bahnsen and others.
"More recently, it shuttered the National Committee for Religious Freedom’s account without explanation, demanding that the nonprofit disclose its donors and provide a list of the political candidates it intends to support as a condition of resuming service."
CHASE BANK WARNED ON RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION BY 19 GOP ATTORNEYS GENERAL
The JPMorgan Chase Tower on Park Avenue on midtown Manhattan. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The nonpartisan, multi-faith nonprofit founded by former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback claimed the bank demanded a list of its donors as a condition to have the account reinstated.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron of Kentucky led a coalition of 18 other Republican state attorneys general, who fired off earlier this month to Chase CEO Jamie Dimon claiming that Chase has "persistently discriminated against certain customers due to their religious or political affiliation."
JPMorgan Chase filed a motion with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to prevent the motion from appearing on the ballot, which the SEC denied in March, arguing that it "transcends ordinary business matters."
CHASE BANK ALLEGEDLY SHUTTERS BANK ACCOUNT OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM NONPROFIT, DEMANDS DONOR LIST
A Chase sign at the company's New York headquarters on May 11, 2012, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images / Getty Images)
JPMorgan's board of directors are now urging shareholders to vote against the resolution, claiming it is "based on allegations that are not true."
"It is not our policy to debank people because of their political views or religious affiliation," the board's proxy statement reads in part. "We believe [JPMorgan Chase] has a strong corporate culture that values diversity of backgrounds, ideas and experience and effectively works to prevent discrimination."
Brownback told FOX Business in October that NCRF's account was closed without explanation. He said that when NCRF's executive director asked about why the account had been closed, the executive director was stonewalled.
U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, second right, joins then-President Trump in the Oval Office as Trump hosts survivors of religious persecution from 17 countries on July 17, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)
"The people said the decision was made at the corporate level, it's secret, we're not going to tell you why, and it's irrevocable," Brownback said. "We were just stunned."
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"Of course, I’m not able to speak about confidential client matters," a spokesperson for Chase told FOX Business at the time. "But what I can say is we have never and would never exit a client relationship due to their political or religious affiliation."