The Federal Trade Commission has warned four of the largest payment processors against denying customers access to financial services because of their political or religious views, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson sent letters to the chief executives of Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, and Stripe citing President Donald Trump’s August executive order on so-called “debanking,” the Journal reported. Ferguson said the order makes clear that it is unacceptable to deny financial services to law-abiding citizens because of their political affiliations, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities.

In the letters, Ferguson told the companies that de-platforming customers or denying access to services in ways that are inconsistent with their terms of service or with a customer’s reasonable expectations could trigger an FTC investigation and possible enforcement action, the newspaper said. 

“Full participation in commerce and public life necessarily requires that law-abiding individuals can access, and freely participate in, our financial system,” Ferguson wrote, according to the Journal.

Ferguson’s letters to Stripe and PayPal went further, stating that concerns had been raised about efforts by the two companies to deny customers access to services because of their political or religious views, according to the report. The FTC chair cited Stripe’s decision to stop processing payments for Trump’s campaign website after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, WSJ said. 

At the time, Stripe cut off the account for violating policies against encouraging violence, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The warnings follow similar pressure campaigns on banks. The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in December it had found early evidence that several major U.S. banks had improperly declined to do business with politically sensitive industries.

In January, Trump sued JPMorgan Chase for $5 billion, alleging the bank closed his accounts for political reasons following the Capitol riot, the Journal reported. JPMorgan has said it does not discriminate on the basis of politics, supports regulatory changes on banks terminating clients, and will fight the lawsuit, which it says lacks merit.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal