Bessent Says Bank Citizenship Proof Order Is 'In Process'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Bloomberg

April 13, 2026 at 9:59 PM EDT
Updated on April 14, 2026 at 2:00 AM EDT


Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said an executive order mandating banks to collect citizenship information from their customers is “in process,” according to news outlet Semafor. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable, because: Why don’t we have information on who’s in our banking system?,” Semafor reported Bessent saying at a Monday dinner hosted by the news outlet in Washington. “I have a place in the UK; they want to know who lives in every apartment.”

That planned executive action would represent a significant new push in President Donald Trump’s effort to discourage undocumented migration to the US, and could impose substantial new mandates on financial institutions. Citizenship documents aren’t currently necessary to open a bank account in the US. In the European Union, banks commonly accept a national ID card in place of a passport, though citizenship verification is more common in other nations.

The order to require a passport or other proof of citizenship could make it more difficult for immigrants and citizens alike to open bank accounts. There were only about 183 million US passports in circulation in 2025, compared with a US population of more than 340 million.

The Wall Street Journal and Semafor have previously reported that new citizenship verification rules could apply to not only new customers but existing account holders, potentially placing large regulatory and compliance burdens on both consumers and financial institutions.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-14/bessent-says-bank-citizenship-verification-order-is-in-process?srnd=homepage-americas

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No paywall (gift)

[Ray Bruns]

1. So when do they start installing Big Brother Television screens in everyone's home?

[ret5hd]

10. you carry it in your purse or bc ack pocket...

every day.

[Ray Bruns]

29. Nope. Because I can turn my phone off and the people in the book couldn't turn the screens off.

[Oneironaut]

13. No need. We have smart phones and Ring cameras.

Every location we’ve been in all day is tracked, and, possibly phone camera feed and audio too. Ring cameras can be used as flock cameras to track people’s movements, with AI for facial recognition. The infrastructure is already there for Big Brother-esque spying.

We don’t need cameras forced in people’s homes. We are willingly creating the infrastructure ourselves.

[2naSalit]

21. Not to mention those...

"Speakers" that function through Blue Tooth like siri or alexis in your home. All these devices monitor us already.

[Rebl2]

35. Very rarely

have phone on and no ring or any other camera on my house. FK this administration!

[JBTaurus83]

2. Yet as Dump says

We don’t have the capacity to facilitate daycare or any social program.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. They want all but your fingerprints in blood when an account is opened

It's been that way a long time. And there have been frequent requests for updates - cell phone, work phone, home phone, mailing, physical address ... Hard to believe they don't already know who's a citizen and who is not. I have an account that's been open 30 years and they recently asked source of funds. Seriously. Like you don't keep any records?

[EuterpeThelo]

4. Oh, that's a great idea

let's push everyone into the underground economy. We haven't even addressed the chaos yet of forcing state-level "legal" marijuana businesses to operate outside the banking system. Let's dump tens of millions of others into the maw.

Also - I'm sick to DEATH of executive orders being treated like LAWS, FFS! We don't have rule by decree in this country! Or, we're not supposed to, anyway.

[Prairie Gates]

5. Reminder that CNBC types and Fox Business News have been inveighing against

bank oversight and the "onerous, excessive" regulations on banks vis-a-vis mandated information collection from clients for the last 25 years at least. I mean, inveighing.

So much for small government. We'll see if CNBC and Fox Business News notices that Bessent is placing Miller's insane immigration crusade above one of the dearest pet issues of the capitalists.

[GB_RN]

6. Umm. Yeah. No.

Not only should private entities have/maintain that sensitive information, but forcing them to implement this would be an undue burden in new data infrastructure investment*. It’s also outside of the banks’ expertise. This is a “solution” in search of a disaster.

*And who is going to end up absorbing those costs? Rhetorical question.

[Journeyman]

9. Who would absorb these costs? Mexico, would be my guess . . .

Them, or the Tariff Fairy.

[Lonestarblue]

7. The payday usurious banking operators will be happy with this.

Have they paid Trump for this rule? Without bank accounts, undocumented workers will have no options to cash checks other than payday operations that charge for the privilege. It's as if Trump and his dvil minions spend all their time thinking up ways to harm the most people.

[Sweet Rosie Red]

14. Been There, done that,

Percentage for check cashing, fee for money orders, stamps, mailbox, file the receipt….I had a car repo’ed because I lost the money order receipt and couldn’t prove I made the payment. I lost my job, had to wait 3 months for food stamps to start again, (This was in Tennessee during one of the recessions) Fed the boys spaghetti and margarine. Washed clothes in the bathtub. Poverty is hard work, and these mfrs pretend we’re all swinging in hammocks watching Youtube. Disgusting sadists!

[FakeNoose]

15. I think a lot of US companies pay their employees by direct deposit now

There's no more paychecks being distributing on Friday afternoons. I'm retired now but I can remember that my former employer switched to paying by direct deposit probably 15 years ago, or maybe longer. Almost every employee already had their own bank account, but a couple of the younger ones were required to open an account just to get their paychecks. For most of us it was way easier than being handed a paycheck and running to the bank to deposit it.

Long story short, most American workers are already "banked." Anyone who gets paid in cash or by paper check is probably a low-paid temporary.

[LiberalArkie]

8. Mr. Bessent, Are you going to require a sexual preference test for bank customers?

[2na fisherman]

11. Offshore Accounts Too?

What about tracking the citizenship of all the wealthy who have undisclosed foreign bank accounts and report that information to their home countries' tax authorities?

[cbabe]

12. How will this work with all the rich from other countries banking here?

Also shared atms and cross over banking, credit cards, credit unions, online banks, etc.

Someone is being big bully, not smart enough to think it through.

[kkmarie]

16. The rich will be exempt

Like always. IMO

#TrumpFiles fna #EpsteinFiles #abolishIce #SendBarron #DraftMAGAFirst #impeach #removetrump

[cbabe]

17. True. It was a rhetorical question. Plus they can buy all the documents needed.

[Martin68]

18. More absurd, unnecessary chaos introduced into the economy. Just what we needed.

[yellow dahlia]

19. I think someone should start tracking every minute of Bessent's day.

How many houses does he have? In how many countries?

He is so creepy! He deserves more scrutiny.

[Mblaze]

20. Of course the banks "regular" Americans want to know about

Are in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.

[Joinfortmill]

22. This is such bullshit. Impeach these idiotic tyrants.

[Buddyzbuddy]

23. Gee, I wonder if check cashing places are greasing somebody's filthy palms.

[Punx]

24. Since the Patriot Act

It already takes an arm and a leg to open a bank account. Can't have people funding terrorists was the claim. And you are going to need a SSN or TIN/EIN to open an account. Should be enough.

I don't know what US banks would require of a non US citizen, not being one, though I'm betting the uber wealthy have business entities they work through. And $ buy access of course.

[BidenRocks]

25. We have been here before.

The poor turn into a cash only society, outside our economy. Black markets thrive.
The easing of bank requirements helped these people get away from high price check cashing joints.

I guess this make them easier to round up!

Keep pushing and the result may not be to chumps liking.

[bucolic_frolic]

26. The Nanny Financial State to make life more complicated

They will catch 11 fake citizens doing this. Nationwide.

[hunter]

27. I see a lot of low income people using WalMart as a bank.

Come payday it's one stop to refill debit cards, send money overseas to family, and pay utility bills.

In some immigrant communities there are completely unregulated entities providing similar services.

[AnnaLee]

28. So, I can just bank in Canada.

Banking is international. Are banks going to lose their US banking permissions if they allow US citizens to bank in another country. Does that mean banks worldwide will need to report US citizen information in order to do business in the US. Or does the chief idiot think he can close down international banking and force banks to redomicile as US only. How stupid. Just how does this work? Maybe they should stop making exception for Bessent when they say the leaders are not qualified for their jobs.

[Bayard]

30. They have about as much right to this info as they do our medical info

Yes, I realize they already get it all via Medicare and other insurance companies. I just hate this Big Brother shit that's currently in practice.

I guarantee trump & co. have a ton of money in Switzerland and other countries.

[Javaman]

31. and here comes a run on the banks before this goes into effect. nt

[not fooled]

32. Says a member of the biggest criminal enterprise in history

Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

[pat_k]

33. Oh goody. Until I get a legal name change I won't be able to open a new account?

Long story, but my birth certificate doesn't match the name I've used my entire life (including SS card mom got when I was very young). An affidavit has been sufficient for any situation the mismatch was an issue. No more. I know I must deal with it to ensure right to vote, but it is a giant pain in the ass that will require not just the court filing fees, but a day of lost income for me as a solo dog walking business.

This shit must stop.

[eringer]

34. This is Sheer Fallacy

Venmo and PayPal offer workarounds to banks. Buy stock in Paypal (which owns Venmo) and you can go to the next stockholders meeting and rub shoulders with the First and Second Families and all those working in the White House that help draft the EO.
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