JPMorgan Chase and Citi resume political donations

Dive brief:

• JPMorgan Chase and Citi have said they will resume campaign donations, after each halting them in the wake of the deadly Jan.6 assault on the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, by a crowd of supporters pro- Trump, according to internal memos seen by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.

• The two banks, however, differ over whether they will give funds to any of the 147 Republican lawmakers who voted to challenge the 2020 election results, media reported.

• JPMorgan has said it will not donate to lawmakers who voted to undo President Joe Biden’s election victory, while Citi has said it will assess all candidates based on a set of standards.

Dive overview:

Citi and JPMorgan Chase were among the first companies to stop political donations in the days following the January 6 insurrection on the Capitol. At the time, Citi said it would suspend donations until March 30, while JPMorgan said it would suspend contributions for six months.

In an internal memo, Citi said it would not ban donations to Republicans who voted to challenge the 2020 election results, but would only give money to candidates who support a set of principles, such as the protection of democratic institutions.

The bank said it would consider donating to applicants who meet a set of five standards, which include relevance to the bank’s business, character and integrity, and their commitment to bipartisanship.

Citi said it would “assess whether elected officials under consideration for contributions, including those who opposed the verification of the 2020 election, meet our criteria going forward,” according to the Journal and Reuters.

JPMorgan went further by telling its employees in a memo that it would not give funds in the 2021-2022 election to the 147 Republicans who contested the election by President Joe Biden.

“[T]It was a unique and historic moment when we believe the country needed our elected officials to put aside deeply entrenched differences and show unity, “the country’s largest bank said in the note.”We will review this decision candidate by candidate after this electoral cycle. “

The political action committees of JPMorgan and Citi raised approximately $ 900,000 and $ 740,000, respectively, for federal candidates during the 2019-20 cycle, according to a January report from the Journal, which cited data analyzed through Nov. 23 by the Center for Responsive Politics.