Dive Brief:

• JPMorgan Chase and Citi said they will resume campaign donations, after each paused them following the deadly Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., by a mob of pro-Trump supporters, according to internal memos seen by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.

• The two banks, however, differ on whether they will donate funds to any of the 147 Republican lawmakers who voted to challenge the results of the 2020 election, the outlets reported. 

• JPMorgan said it would not donate to lawmakers who voted to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory, while Citi said it will evaluate all candidates based on a set of standards.

Dive Insight:

Citi and JPMorgan Chase were among the first firms to halt political donations in the days following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. At the time, Citi said it would pause donations through March 30, while JPMorgan said it would suspend contributions for six months.

In an internal memo, Citi said it wouldn’t ban donations to Republicans who voted to challenge the results of the 2020 election, but would only give money to candidates who supported a set of principles, such as protecting democratic institutions.

The bank said it would consider donating to candidates who meet a set of five standards, which include relevance to the bank’s business, character and integrity and their commitment to bipartisanship.

Citi said it would "evaluate whether elected officials under consideration for contributions, including those who objected to the 2020 election verification, meet our criteria going forward," according to the Journal and Reuters.

JPMorgan went a step further, telling its employees in a memo that it would not give funds in the 2021-22 election to the 147 Republicans who challenged the election of President Joe Biden.

"[T]his was a unique and historic moment when we believe the country needed our elected officials to put aside strongly held differences and demonstrate unity," the nation’s largest bank said in the memo. "We will review this decision on a candidate-by-candidate basis after this election cycle."

JPMorgan and Citi's political action committees raised about $900,000 and $740,000, respectively, for federal candidates in the 2019-20 cycle, according to a January report by the Journal, which cited data analyzed through Nov. 23 by the Center for Responsive Politics.