FILE PHOTO: JPMorgan Chase Bank is seen in New York City, U.S., March 21, 2023. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo

By Nupur Anand

NEW YORK (Reuters) -JPMorgan Chase denied it closed an account linked to former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback on religious grounds, and did not receive information it requested from him before shutting the account, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Brownback, a Republican who chairs the National Committee for Religious Freedom, claims the bank canceled the group's new account on religious grounds in 2022. He also alleged Chase shuns conservatives and religious groups.

President Donald Trump has accused the nation's biggest lenders of discriminating against him and his conservative supporters by denying them banking services, a practice known as "debanking."

"We don’t discontinue client relationships because of a religious or political affiliation, and we didn’t with your account," wrote Larry Thode, a managing director at Chase, in a letter in October 2022. The contents of the letter have not been previously reported.

"The information your organization gave to us at account opening triggered our request for additional information. That had nothing to do with any religious affiliation."

The bank did not obtain the information before the account was closed because its bankers were not able to connect with Brownback's staff in a timely manner, it said.

"We apologize for that," Thode wrote.

A spokesperson for Brownback said the letter was the first time Chase had discussed regulations including the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering regulations as a cause for the account being canceled. "They still didn't address why our account was closed just three weeks after opening."

Thode declined comment.

The White House declined to comment on Brownback's case.

Trump relaunched his attack on JPMorgan and Bank of America this week, saying they refused to accept his deposits. The president is expected to announce an executive order on debanking as early this week, that could instruct regulators to review banks for "politicized or unlawful debanking" practices, according to a draft seen by Reuters. Brownback wrote in the New York Post this year that JPMorgan had abruptly canceled his newly opened account for the National Committee for Religious Freedom in 2022. "Over the course of the next year, a stream of Chase employees offered up no fewer than four conflicting explanations for why it had canceled our account," Brownback wrote. Banks are required to carry out due diligence on non-profit organizations to comply with anti-money laundering rules.

(Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York; Editing by Lananh Nguyen, Chris Reese and David Holmes)