Trump administration weighs citizenship requirement for bank account holders

The Trump administration is considering requiring banks to collect proof of citizenship, like passports, from its customers, people familiar with the talks told Semafor.

The policy would be retroactive, which means banks would have to solicit documentation from current customers as well as future ones, the people said. REAL IDs, which do not prove citizenship, would not be considered eligible.

A spokesperson for the White House, Kush Desai, told Semafor that “any reporting about potential policymaking that has not been officially announced by the White House is baseless speculation.” It is unclear where the Treasury Department, which did not comment for this story, stands on the proposal.

Already, the industry is pushing back out of concern that the potential move — via presidential order, not legislation — would be costly and complicated to implement. Illicit finance laws require financial institutions to collect some personal information on their customers, but not citizenship details specifically.

One financial services lobbyist called the idea a “complete nightmare” logistically. The lobbyist also warned of potential pushback from GOP voters: “The admin might think this is a good idea until Joe MAGA in Alabama is asked to present his papers.”

“Verifying every bank customer’s citizenship status would be unworkable,” said another person familiar with the recent talks. “Such a mandate could force every bank in America to solicit documentation that many everyday Americans do not have on hand. To put that into perspective, the US government has spent the last 20 years trying to encourage adoption of the REAL ID, and even that form of documentation does not constitute proof of citizenship.”

Firms raised similar concerns last year when congressional Republicans floated taxing the cash that non-citizens send to family members in their home countries. That proposal would have also required financial institutions to collect proof of citizenship from their customers.