The White House is drafting an executive order that would threaten penalties against banks found to have closed accounts for political or ideological reasons, according to a Wall Street Journal report confirmed by Reuters. The measure, which could be signed as early as this week, would direct banking regulators to examine whether lenders violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust rules or consumer-protection laws when terminating relationships with conservatives, cryptocurrency firms and other clients deemed controversial. Under the draft, regulators could impose monetary fines, consent orders or other disciplinary steps and would be instructed to scrap internal policies that may have encouraged so-called “de-risking.” The Small Business Administration would also be asked to review the conduct of banks that guarantee its loans, widening the initiative’s reach across the financial system. The planned order follows mounting Republican complaints that large lenders have been “debanking” right-leaning customers and digital-asset companies, a practice critics label “Operation Choke Point 2.0.” In a CNBC interview on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America rejected his business despite “hundreds of millions of dollars” in deposits and accused regulators in the prior administration of pressuring banks to drop him. Both institutions said they do not close accounts on political grounds. Bank shares edged lower after the remarks: JPMorgan and Bank of America each slipped about 0.4 % in pre-market New York trading. While the draft order does not single out specific firms, its passage would heighten regulatory scrutiny of the country’s largest lenders and marks the administration’s most forceful response yet to allegations of politically motivated banking restrictions.