Republicans warn bank CEOs to downplay social and cultural issues

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the largest U.S. bank faced sharp criticism from Republicans on Thursday for urging companies not to play socially and express opinions on cultural issues. Senator Pat Toomey, a senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, urged banks to stop “accepting a liberal ESG agenda that hurts America” ​​because CEOs appear before Congress for oversight hearings. Toomey has often backed industry calls for deregulation, arguing that companies are crossing the line when weighing non-banking issues like guns and abortion. “I can’t help noticing that when banks speak out on high tension social and political issues, they always seem to lean towards liberals,” he said in said in the opening remarks. senator. John F. Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, praised the bank as “not perfect, but good,” before responding to calls for caution. “You’re never going to win the Super Wake sweepstakes,” he said. The heightened scrutiny highlights the growing challenges faced by the country’s largest lenders as they try to balance commercial interests with pressure from policymakers. Challenges, activists and investors take positions on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

The lineup includes the CEOs of the Big Four U.S. banks: JPMorgan & Co (NYSE: 500JPM) Jamie Dimon, 7992267 FuGuo bank (NYSE: 100 WFC) Bank of America ( NYSE:

Charles Scharf BAC )’s Brian Moynihan and 267200 Citigroup

(NYSE: 1000C) Jane Fraser. The country’s largest regional bank US Bancorp (NYSE: 267USB

), PNC Financial (NYSE:

PNC) and Truist. Democrats continue to be critical of big banks for abusing consumers and workers while enjoying huge profits. None of the CEOs in attendance affirmed that they agreed with Chairman Sherrod Brown’s request that they remain neutral in any employee union activity.

However, CEOs After the Federal Reserve raised interest rates this week, they began raising interest payments to savers, a trend they expect to continue. CEOs were in Washington for a second day of oversight hearings. On Wednesday, lawmakers urged executives to take a tougher stance on doing business with China amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan’s sovereignty and China’s human rights record.