Federal regulators said some of the largest banks in the United States allowed political concerns to shape who received services.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a 45-page report called “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans” Wednesday (Oct. 14) on the issue of “debanking.” It alleged that nine of the country’s biggest lenders had policies that allowed them to deny or limit services based on political or religious beliefs.
“Today’s report provides irrefutable evidence that the nation’s largest banks have denied, debanked and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses,” Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould said in a Wednesday news release. “Americans should have access to financial services regardless of their beliefs, affiliations or political views. Fair access to financial services is not a mantra—it is a mandate.”
The report found that “broad reputation risk policies,” which lacked clear standards and “objective, risk-based criteria,” disadvantaged some Americans “based on their political, religious or social views or based on their lawful business activities,” the release said.
In response to the report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a Wednesday news release that it would “address any consumer harm caused by the nation’s largest banks.”
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The nine banks told the OCC they have since revised or consolidated policies to make sure they granted fair access, according to the report. But the regulator said none of the banks have fully acknowledged earlier debanking decisions or done enough to remediate customers.
Among the examples cited in the report are JPMorgan subsidiary WePay closing accounts from merchants selling merchandise related to President Donald Trump and the larger Make America Great Again movement.
JPMorgan said its policies prohibit political or religious discrimination and said WePay’s process “did not meet our expectations,” CNBC reported Wednesday. The bank said it addressed the issue and has since shuttered the business.
In at least one example, debanking did not target conservative-focused businesses, the report said. Capital One declined to do business with an abortion rights group after finding that the bulk of its political contributions were to Democratic candidates, and with a public education group whose political arm solely endorsed Democrats.
Banks initially dismissed claims of bias and said they avoid industries or clients in keeping with compliance laws or regulatory pressures designed to protect banks from reputational risks, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
However, the White House has not let go of the issue, the report said. Regulators could now seek financial penalties against banks for debanking customers, although the legal basis for doing so is unclear.
Trump signed an executive order on debanking in August 2025, saying he wanted to guarantee fair banking for all Americans. He has also sued JPMorgan, claiming he was debanked after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots. The bank has said the lawsuit has no merit.
The issue of debanking predates Trump’s return to the White House. In December 2024, investor Marc Andreessen alleged that the FinTech and cryptocurrency sectors, as well as dozens of companies backed by his namesake firm, Andreessen Horowitz, were debanked for political reasons, PYMNTS reported at the time, adding the issue could be more nuanced.
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