By Ross Kerber

Aug 20 (Reuters) - This is the weekly Reuters Sustainable Finance Newsletter, which you can sign up for here.

U.S. President Trump and other Republicans have been harshly critical of the "debanking" of conservatives they say major financial institutions have carried out, but it has been hard to quantify how widespread the practice has become.

Now, statistics I found from the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggest the issue is not that widespread, at least on the available public record. You can read more in my main story this week, linked below.

For this newsletter I have also included links to stories we did on the end of an Air Canada strike, Trump's criticism of Goldman Sachs, and another legal settlement over 2020 election coverage.

Please follow me on LinkedIn and/or Bluesky. Or get me via ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com.

Despite Trump's fuss, few "debanking" complaints

Less than 1% of customers who filed detailed complaints about checking or savings account closures with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over the last 13 years accused banks of acting for political or religious reasons, a review of the agency's data showed. Still, the White House has mounted a campaign to stamp out "systemic abuses" in the financial system that it says have wronged conservatives.

U.S. President Donald Trump this month signed an executive order requiring banks not to discriminate against clients on political or religious grounds, a practice known as debanking, after citing what Trump called discrimination against conservatives. The White House said the order was targeting "systemic abuses by financial institutions that undermine free expression and economic opportunity."

But few customers who have been denied access to banking products cite their political affiliation as a chief concern. Out of the 8,361 detailed complaints about closed bank accounts filed with the CFPB since the agency began taking them in 2012, only 35 included the terms “politics,” “religion,” “conservative” or "Christian," a review by Reuters showed.

You can read the rest of my story from Tuesday by clicking here.

Company News

Qantas Airways QAN.AX must pay a record $59 million for illegally firing 1,800 ground staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, a judge ruled, and criticized Australia's largest airline for a lack of contrition.

Air Canada AC.TO will resume operations after reaching a deal with its unionized flight attendants to end the first strike by its cabin crew in 40 years, which had upended travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Newsmax NMAX.N will pay $67 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over false claims that Dominion Voting Systems had rigged the 2020 election. The sum was a fraction of the $787.5 million that Fox Corp FOXA.O and Fox News agreed to pay Dominion to settle similar claims.

On My Radar

A new Dun & Bradstreet DNB.N report found that 42% of all U.S. businesses were in areas impacted by moderate or severe heat alerts during a span of record high temperatures across much of the country in June.

As a followup to last week's column on Amazon's packaging reforms, the American Forest & Paper Association said 2024 recycling rates fell to between 69% to 74% for cardboard, down from between 71% to 76% in 2023. It cited lessened fiber demand from Asia, coupled with more packaged imports to the U.S.

Trump often lashes out at institutions like law firms and universities. He also took a jab at Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs GS.N over a forecast on the impact of his tariffs. Goldman's U.S. chief economist David Mericle said in response that it will carry on with its research. Still, the criticism could prompt some analysts to water down their findings.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by David Gregorio)

((ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com; (617) 412 0093;))