Banking Censorship: The Financial Arm of Political Harassment
9th July 2026
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.