OCC report says nine large banks debanked customers over political and religious views

Right · 2The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the federal banking regulator, released a report on Wednesday 14 October 2026 saying major banks closed accounts and refused credit to customers over their political, social or religious views. 1 2 Right · 2The Debanking Review examined 100,000 complaints and 50,000 internal bank records, and covered the nine largest banks the OCC supervises: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC, TD Bank and BMO Bank. 1 2 Right · 1According to the New York Post's account of the 47-page report, "Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans", the banks cited "reputation risk" between 2020 and 2025 to deny service, with feared sources of that risk including negative press, protests, criticism from advocacy groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, and reprisals from regulators or politicians. 1

Right · 2Examples in the report include a payment processor owned by JPMorgan Chase (WePay) closing in February 2021 the account of a merchant selling merchandise promoting President Trump and the MAGA brand, and the bank's screening system flagging terms such as "MAGA" and "America First". 2 1 Right · 1The New York Post also reports that PNC refused a line of credit to a media company whose owner had funded Christian conservative groups, that Wells Fargo declined to lend to two firearms businesses and pressured a payment processor to drop a religious nonprofit, and that Bank of America debanked private-prison businesses. 1 Right · 2The report also found organisations across the political spectrum were turned away: Capital One declined partisan entities backing candidates of a single party, and in February 2023 a bank declined a public education organisation whose political arm endorsed only Democratic candidates. 1 2

Right · 2Just the News reports that one bank's environmental and social risk policy barred relationships with firearms customers lacking policies aligned with its "responsible firearm standards", such as limits on high-capacity magazines and on sales to people under 21; the Post says restricted sectors also included Arctic oil and gas, coal, detention facilities, tobacco and e-cigarettes. 2 1 Right · 1Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould said the report "provides irrefutable evidence that the nation's largest banks have denied, debanked and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses", and the OCC said it is considering further action to stop such discrimination. 2 Right · 1The New York Post reports that all nine banks told the OCC they had revised their practices, but the regulator said the reforms had not gone far enough and that no bank had "fully and publicly acknowledged" its conduct. 1

Right · 1The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced an investigation into the banks; its Acting Director, Mark Paoletta, called the conduct "appalling" and said many of those targeted were Trump supporters. 1 Right · 1The review followed President Trump's executive order of 7 August 2025 directing regulators to combat "politicized or unlawful debanking"; Trump is also suing JPMorgan Chase, alleging it closed his accounts in 2021 for political reasons. 1 Right · 1The coverage available does not include responses from the banks named, and the Post notes the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose hate-group designations banks used, was indicted in April on federal fraud and money-laundering charges. 1