Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase weighed reputation rules, not politics, in closing Trump and his supporters' accounts, sources say

Decisions by some major U.S. banks to close accounts were based on rules around reputational risk, people familiar with the matter said, pushing back on President Donald Trump's accusation that he and his conservative supporters were denied services for political reasons.

Trump on Tuesday renewed his criticism of JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab and Bank of America (BAC.N) saying they discriminated against him by refusing to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in deposits.

While banks have been careful not to contradict the president directly and provoke his ire, two industry sources cited regulations under the former President Joe Biden's administration that forced them to weigh reputational risks as the reason lenders have dropped clients or avoided others. The sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

One bank was concerned about this issue when dealing with Trump because of his legal woes during the Biden administration, the first source said.