As Marine Le Pen enters the presidential race, her party is in the eye of the storm. The French press is reporting on the ongoing difficulties faced by Rassemblement National (RN) MPs with banks: despite their status as members of the National Assembly, they have found that banks have no qualms about arbitrarily closing their accounts, for reasons that are not officially stated—that is to say, ideological ones. The phenomenon of banking censorship targeting political opponents of the national Right extends far beyond France’s borders.
According to the public broadcaster France Inter, several RN MPs were dropped by their banks shortly after their election. And these are not minor figures, as they include Jean-Philippe Tanguy, one of the party’s leading figures, and Frank Allisio, a close associate of Marine Le Pen and the RN’s former candidate in the Marseille mayoral elections.
The modus operandi is always the same. A business relationship that has often lasted for years—sometimes more than a decade—and then, one fine day, a terse message with no justification whatsoever. “We no longer see fit to maintain our business relationship,” was the message sent to Thomas Ménagé, MP for the Loiret, who was asked to find another bank. The information is only now being made public, but the termination took place immediately after his election to the National Assembly in 2022.
Under French law, upon becoming MPs, these elected representatives also become ‘PPEs,’ or Politically Exposed Persons, to use banking jargon. According to the Banque de France’s website, such individuals require special attention as they are considered “exposed to higher risks of money laundering.” Banks may therefore choose to rid themselves of these potentially troublesome clients.
According to the National Assembly’s Bureau and Presidency, contacted by France Inter, there have been no reports of similar cases involving other political groups: it is therefore easy to conclude that this amounts to persecution specifically targeting politicians affiliated with the RN. Marine Le Pen’s recent conviction, which is currently suspended, is not going to improve matters: the suspicion of misappropriation of public funds will certainly reinforce certain bank managers’ decision to exclude people close to her.
The problem runs deep. Individuals involved with the RN are subject to banking restrictions, and the party finds itself in the same predicament. To date, no French bank has yet agreed to lend it the funds necessary to run its campaign.
Other activists and organisations on the French national Right have faced the same difficulties. Alice Cordier, chair of the identitarian feminist collective Némésis, has spoken out on social media about the numerous arbitrary account closures she has faced, both personally and on behalf of her organisation. At times, the very economic survival of these organisations is at stake. Recently, the alternative news site Fdesouche, which operates solely thanks to public generosity, was refused a fundraising appeal. The Némésis collective had its accounts closed during its end-of-year fundraising campaign—traditionally the most significant in terms of figures—resulting in a substantial shortfall in revenue.
On X, the Austrian activist Martin Sellner, founder of the Institute for Remigration in Vienna, sounded the alarm a few days ago: for years, he has been subjected to outright banking harassment, which reduces him to the status of a second-class citizen by depriving him of the means to receive money or make bank transfers.
The phenomenon of banking censorship proves that the political playing field is not level and that underhand methods are used to prevent the development of an alternative right-wing political movement. The solution would lie in setting up independent banks willing to stand alongside these figures and organisations: this is an area of political action that is waiting for people of good will and which has not yet been sufficiently recognised.
