Bessent Says Bank Citizenship Proof Order Is 'In Process' [View all]

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