Germany’s AfD Party Accuses Bank of Politically Motivated Debanking

Afd claimed there was no misconduct on its part to warrant the account closure.

Delegates of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party arrive at the AfD party congress in Riesa, Germany, on Jan. 11, 2025. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

A German bank has terminated the account of a local chapter of conservative political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) without giving any reasons, the party said in a Nov. 9 statement.

The cooperative bank, Volksbank in Ostwestfalen, closed the account of the AfD district association in Minden-Lubbecke, according to the party.

“This cannot be due to the purely business relationship, as the AfD district association Minden-Lubbecke had been a reliable and consistently solvent customer for over 10 years,” the party said.

Sebastian Landwehr, chairman of the local chapter, condemned the bank’s decision.

“Since there has been no misconduct on the part of the AfD district association and nothing has changed regarding the association’s trustworthiness, there remains only one explanation: this is what is known as ‘debanking,’ that is, a politically motivated account termination,” he said.

AfD alleged these actions are aimed at silencing the party and called on Germany’s financial authorities to put an end to what it said was politically motivated debanking.

The party said that legislative measures are necessary to ban such acts.

AfD asked “democratically minded” people who have accounts with Volksbank in Ostwestfalen to switch to another bank.

The Epoch Times reached out to Volksbank in Ostwestfalen for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

This isn’t the first time banks have allegedly debanked the party.

In January, the Duesseldorf branch of the AfD party said that its account had been terminated by the Volksbank Duesseldorf-Neuss cooperative bank, where it keeps its money.

“We are making use of our right under our general conditions of business to end our business relationship from March 31,” the bank said in a letter to the branch, without giving a more specific reason for its move.

Last year, the Berlin Volksbank closed the AfD’s donations account after 33,000 people signed a petition started by “Grandmas against the Right,” an activist group claiming to be anti-fascist.

Debanking is a major issue in the United States, and the Trump administration has taken action to tackle the problem.

In a Feb. 4 memorandum, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs said that in the previous three years, more than 8,056 consumers filed complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), accusing financial institutions of improperly closing savings, checking, or other deposit accounts.

“The agency’s experience suggests that complaints filed by consumers to the CFPB only represent a small fraction of the total population of consumers that are experiencing a certain issue, so this could be a problem facing millions of people,” the memo stated.

On Aug. 7, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, “Guaranteeing Fair Banking For All Americans,” that prohibited banks from denying financial services to individuals based on their religious or political ideologies.

Federal banking regulators are required to investigate whether banks have engaged in “politicized or unlawful debanking” and to penalize such activities, according to the order.

In a Sept. 30 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. mentioned the effect Trump’s order has had on the institution.

JPMorgan said it was responding to requests from government authorities regarding the institution’s policies and processes, as well as the delivery of services to existing and potential customers.

Bank of America said in a Sept. 30 SEC filing that it was also responding to requests regarding fair access to banking, including those arising as a result of Trump’s order.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced a discussion draft last month of the Ensuring Fair Access to Banking Act, which seeks to ban politically motivated debanking, according to an Oct. 30 statement from the lawmaker’s office.

“Too often, certain financial institutions or politically motivated regulators have pursued policies that cut off lawful industries they simply don’t like,” Tillis said.

“That kind of back-door policymaking undermines transparency, accountability, and Americans’ access to the financial system. This commonsense bill reins in those abuses, strengthens oversight of federal regulators, and restores fair access for legally operating businesses.”

Reuters contributed to this report.