Indiana’s state treasurer repeatedly stood against big banks canceling accounts and releasing customer data of Christians and conservatives for viewpoint discrimination. A pending must-pass bill in Indiana’s Republican-run legislature would strip some of Treasurer Daniel Elliott’s powers and could give them to those same banks.
A measure currently part of state budget negotiations due to conclude April 29 would demote Elliott from manager of a $3 billion local government investment fund to one of a five-member board managing that fund. Three other members of the board would be banking executives. The fifth would be the director of Indiana’s Department of Financial Institutions, the state’s bank regulator.
The arrangement would create a financial conflict of interest because any bank stands to benefit from where these government funds are invested. The measure currently inside must-pass House Bill 1001 is being pushed by the Indiana Bankers’ Association, a lobbying outfit with a political action committee (PAC), according to the Indianapolis Star. The IBA’s “strategic plan” says the organization “help[s] members shape their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts” in ways that include “provid[ing] roadmaps, training, and support.”
Since Elliott became Indiana’s largest vote-getter in 2022, he has used his position to protect consumers and faithful Americans from un-American pressure on their First Amendment and other rights. He’s made powerful enemies doing so, including the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock.
In 2023, Indiana’s legislature passed an environmental, social, governance (ESG) investment ban Elliott enforced against BlackRock and other massive financial institutions. Banks use ESG criteria to deploy billions in public and customer assets to achieve far-left policy priorities such as erasing cheap, reliable energy.
Elliott has been a key partner of a nationwide coalition of conservative financial elected officials, the State Financial Officers Foundation. As part of that coalition, he and some 25 other Republican state financial officers have fought financial discrimination against Christians and conservatives, ESG, and DEI.
They have also publicly called for divesting state pension dollars — which total $5.3 trillion — from China. Florida and Texas have begun doing so. Elliott has also worked to protect gun companies from financial discrimination and supported legislation to allow state employees to legally carry in the statehouse, where he works. Indiana is a constitutional carry state.
In a 2024 Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) press conference, Elliott took a stand against pressure tactics the banking industry has used against conservatives and Christians. He said removing $13 billion in state business from Bank of America was on the table depending on how the bank responded to concerns from shareholders about its history of debanking Americans based on their political and religious views.
Sixty-nine percent of large financial companies’ policies allow them to deny service based on customers’ political or religious views, according to the business index on ADF’s 2024 Viewpoint Diversity Score. One week into his second term, President Trump called out Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan to his face at the World Economic Forum for debanking conservatives: “I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives, because what you’re doing is wrong.”
A December 2024 congressional report showed U.S. banks routinely give customers’ sensitive information to federal employees without requiring any warrants or even suspicion of a crime. Banks, the report showed, were flagging completely legal purchases for federal authorities without requiring any warrants, including Bibles and any items bought at sporting goods stores.
Numerous banks, including Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America, have canceled customers’ accounts for conservative and Christian views. The FBI told banks to flag customers for “domestic extremism” if they oppose illegal immigration, lockdowns, or gun bans, witnesses testified to Congress. In March 2023, a whistleblower told congressional investigators the FBI “pushed local offices to open criminal investigations into Americans based solely on financial transactions Bank of America tracked and voluntarily provided” to the Biden administration.
“The political action committee associated with the Indiana Bankers’ Association gives significantly to lawmakers across the aisle,” says the Indianapolis Star. “In 2024, Indiana BANKPAC gave nearly $300,000 to state candidates, including $25,000 to Gov. Mike Braun and $15,000 each to the General Assembly’s Republican leaders.”
In the 2024 election cycle, Indiana BANKPAC gave $22,500 or more to Indiana’s Senate pro tem, House speaker, Senate financial institutions committee chairman, and Senate tax committee chairman, according to Transparency USA.
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