A New Era for Banking: What President Trump’s Debanking Executive Order and Related State Laws Mean for Financial Institutions, Government, and Banking Customers – Part 2

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Today’s podcast features the second part of a recent webinar produced on September 24, 2025, titled: "A New Era for Banking: What President Trump's Debanking Executive Order and Related State Laws Mean for Financial Institutions, Government, and Banking Customers."

In Part 2, we discuss the following topics:

1. What are the areas of uncertainty with respect to the Executive Order, including: 

• Defining an “unlawful business” or “religion" and why those definitions are important.  

• What regulator or regulators will issue regulations or other guidance?

2. What is the role of the Small Business Administration (“SBA”)

3. Intersection with AML/BSA

4. Intersection with state debanking statutes and experience of the states

5. Pending Federal legislation

6. What should financial institutions be doing now to prepare for regulator review?

7. Is the Executive Order good or bad policy?

8. Is there a proven need for the Executive Order?  Is there any empirical evidence of need based on complaints submitted to states with debanking statutes, SBA or other federal banking prudential regulators or is it all anecdotal?

Our presenters, who hold diverse views on the wisdom of the Executive Order, are:

• Jason Mikula
  Founder and Publisher, Fintech Business Weekly
  Jason Mikula is an independent fintech and banking advisor, consultant, and investor. He also publishes Fintech Business Weekly, a newsletter analyzing trends in banking and fintech. He opposes the Executive Order.
• Brian Knight
  Senior Counsel, Corporate Engagement, Alliance Defending Freedom
  Brian Knight serves as Senior Counsel on the Corporate Engagement Team at Alliance Defending Freedom. His work focuses on issues of financial access, debanking, and preventing the politicization of financial services. He opposes the Executive Order.
• Todd Phillips
  Assistant Professor of Law, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University
  Todd Phillips is an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University. His areas of expertise include bank capital and prudential regulation, deposit insurance, and the laws governing federal regulators. He opposes the Executive Order.
• Will Hild
  Executive Director, Consumers’ Research
  Will Hild is the Executive Director of Consumers’ Research, the nation’s oldest consumer protection organization. He has led efforts to combat ESG and what he considers “woke capitalism,” including launching the Consumers First campaign. He supports the Executive Order.
• Graham Steele
  Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, U.S. Department of the Treasury
  Graham Steele serves as the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He is an expert on financial regulation and financial institutions, with over a decade of experience working at the highest levels of law and policy in Washington, D.C. He opposes the Executive Order.

Alan Kaplinsky, the founder and first practice group leader and now Senior Counsel of the Consumer Financial Services Group at our firm, moderated the webinar.

We released Part 1 of this webinar on October 30, 2025.

A transcript of the recording will be available soon.

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