The heads of the nation’s largest banks faced pointed criticism on Thursday from Republicans complaining the firms are inappropriately taking liberal stances on social and cultural issues.
Senator Pat Toomey, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, urged banks to stop “embracing a liberal ESG agenda that harms America,” as chief executives appeared before Congress for an oversight hearing. Toomey, frequently a bank ally, who has opposed stricter industry rules, argued firms are out of bounds when they weigh in on non-banking issues like guns and abortion.
“I can’t help but observe that when banks do weigh-in on highly charged social and political issues, they seem to always come down on the liberal side,” he said in his opening statement.
Photo credit: REUTERS
