Anne Baillot, Alexandra Keiner, “Trifft es eine, trifft es alle? Herausforderungen und Perspektiven von Debanking-Praktiken in Europa” (“It happens to one, it happens to all? Challenges and perspectives of debanking practices in Europe”), Etosmedia, January 25, 2026.
In December 2025, several German left-wing organisations had their bank accounts closed, including cases involving GLS Bank and Sparkasse Göttingen. Hundreds of left-wing organisations have expressed solidarity by signing an open letter addressed to GLS Bank. These incidents also led to the formation of the “Debanking Stoppen” network. The initiative aims to reverse the closures and is pushing for safeguards to prevent banks from easily resorting to such measures in the future.
Anne Baillot and Alexandra Keiner place these cases within the broader history of international debanking practices since 9/11, highlighting how European banks are shaped by political decisions—currently those of the United States, but potentially also those of authoritarian European governments. The drivers behind these developments are not only increasingly stringent international compliance rules aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing, but also the structure of the global financial system itself, which is concentrated in the hands of a limited number of actors, such as SWIFT and correspondent banks. To avoid exclusion from these essential infrastructures, banks are increasingly adopting so-called ‘de-risking’ strategies, proactively minimizing risk by excluding certain sectors or terminating accounts when suspicions arise.
The article further shows that debanking frequently affects marginalized groups with limited public visibility, including refugees, migrants, sex workers, and politically stigmatized initiatives. These cases offer a particularly clear view of the political power exercised by banks. They serve as testing grounds that reveal how exclusion from financial infrastructure operates in practice—and what others may face in the future.
The authors ultimately call for a broader understanding of solidarity, one that extends beyond concern for one’s own bank account and takes seriously the situation of marginalized communities. In this perspective, the debate over Europe’s financial sovereignty also presents an opportunity to place solidarity more firmly at the center of political and public discussion.