{"id":102299,"date":"2024-06-04T20:31:29","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T01:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102299"},"modified":"2024-06-04T20:31:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T01:31:29","slug":"102299","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102299","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Bank of America Walks Back Gun Lending Ban<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the country\u2019s largest financial institutions is reversing course on AR-15s and other popular firearms.<\/p>\n

Bank of America backed off its blanket ban on lending to companies that manufacture what it has labeled \u201cmilitary-style firearms,\u201d\u00a0Bloomberg<\/a><\/em>\u00a0first reported<\/a>\u00a0Friday. Going forward, the bank will resume lending to firearms companies on a case-by-case basis subject to \u201cenhanced due diligence,\u201d according to its latest Environmental and Social Risk Policy (ESRP) Framework.<\/p>\n

Bill Haldin, a spokesperson for Bank of America, confirmed the change in policy in a statement to\u00a0The Reload<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertain client relationships or transactions that carry heightened risks go through a due diligence process that involves senior level risk review,\u201d he said. \u201cWe recently detailed that in our updated risk policy framework.\u201d<\/p>\n

The about-face comes as Republican-led states are increasingly turning up the heat on financial institutions and other businesses that adopt environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies they argue target legal firearms and energy production. Gun commerce, in particular, has become a flashpoint in recent years as major banks like\u00a0Bank of America<\/a>,\u00a0JPMorgan<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0Citibank<\/a>\u00a0publicly cut off funding to businesses that sell certain firearms and accessories. In response, Republicans in states like\u00a0Texas<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Florida<\/a>\u00a0have shown an increased willingness to use new government regulations to combat those practices.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Haldin did not respond to a request for comment on whether the political backlash drove Bank of America\u2019s decision. However,\u00a0Bloomberg\u00a0<\/em>reported that anti-discrimination laws passed in Texas and Florida played a significant role, citing a person familiar with bank officials\u2019 thinking.<\/p>\n

Adopted in 2021,\u00a0<\/span>Texas\u2019s SB19<\/span><\/a>\u00a0became the country\u2019s first \u201cnon-discrimination\u201d policy for firearms businesses. The law prohibits government entities from contracting with companies that have policies restricting gun companies. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R.) found Citibank\u2019s policy of refusing to do business with companies who sell \u201clarge capacity\u201d magazines was discriminating against the gun industry and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>forced the financial giant<\/span>\u00a0out of a $3.4 billion bond deal<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R.)\u00a0<\/span>signed a similar law<\/span><\/a>\u00a0last year. The Sunshine State\u2019s version requires banks to attest that they don\u2019t \u201cpolitically discriminate<\/span>\u201c<\/span>\u00a0by denying credit or accounts based on an applicant being a lawful gun owner, maker, or dealer in order to do business with Florida government entities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The firearms industry responded to Bank of America\u2019s policy change with cautious optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are encouraged by Bank of America\u2019s announcement that it will no longer pursue a \u2018woke\u2019 policy of discriminating against members of our industry merely because they make and lawfully sell products Americans desire to purchase,\u201d Larry Keane, Senior Vice President of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told\u00a0The Reload<\/em>. \u201cWe hope they are sincere and this is not a publicity stunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keane added that the bank\u2019s move is \u201cvalidation\u201d of laws like those in Texas and Florida that \u201caddress this pernicious pattern of discrimination by financial service and insurance companies, among others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The political fight over banking for gun businesses has been ongoing for at least a decade. The Obama Administration\u2019s 2013\u00a0\u201cOperation Chokepoint\u201d scandal<\/a>, for instance, saw the government pressure financial institutions not to do business with gun and ammunition suppliers\u2013often without evidence of wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Bank of America\u2019s former policy, and the similar policies adopted by its competitors, was announced in 2018 in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting in Parkland, Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have just a handful of manufacturers. They know what our intentions are,\u201d Anne Finucane, then-vice chairman at Bank of America,\u00a0said at the time<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s our intention not to finance these military-style firearms for civilian use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bank of America\u2019s policy now describes its \u201carms and munitions\u201d business as a social area of \u201cheightened sensitivity\u201d requiring special review moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny client or transaction involving the manufacture of military-style firearms for non-law enforcement, non-military use must be escalated to the senior-level risk committee for decisioning,\u201d the bank\u2019s\u00a0latest ESRP report reads<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bank of America Walks Back Gun Lending Ban One of the country\u2019s largest financial institutions is reversing course on AR-15s and other popular firearms. Bank of America backed off its blanket ban on lending to companies that manufacture what it has labeled \u201cmilitary-style firearms,\u201d\u00a0Bloomberg\u00a0first reported\u00a0Friday. Going forward, the bank will resume lending to firearms companies … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102300,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102299\/revisions\/102300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}