CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bank of America has joined several other financial institutions in refusing to handle payments for WikiLeaks.

The Charlotte-based bank released a statement Saturday saying it will no longer process any transactions that it believes are intended for the site, which has released thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

“This decision is based upon our reasonable belief that WikiLeaks may be engaged in activities that are, among other things, inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments,” the bank said.

The action comes as WikiLeaks says it plans to release information about banks. The site’s founder has previously said it has a trove of documents on Bank of America.

Other financial institutions, including MasterCard and PayPal, also have stopped handling payments for the site.