The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a report on 14 October on its supervisory review of debanking at the nine largest national banks it supervises. They are JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank and BMO Bank. The report says the banks held policies or practices between 2020 and 2025 that may have required, encouraged or otherwise influenced debanking based on customers' political or religious leanings.
Sector restrictions and the evidence reviewed
In preparing the report, the OCC reviewed nearly 100,000 complaints to regulated institutions. It also received about 50,000 documents, totalling about 420,000 pages, from the banks on their policies, procedures, practices and individual customer decisions.
The OCC also found that banks maintained public and nonpublic policies restricting access to financial services for certain sectors. These included oil and gas exploration, coal mining or coal-powered plants, firearms or ammunition, detention facilities, tobacco or e-cigarettes, and digital asset activities. Comptroller Jonathan Gould said the 47-page report "provides irrefutable evidence that the nation’s largest banks have denied, debanked and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses".
Regulator weighs further action on debanking
The OCC announced the review in September 2025 and issued preliminary findings in December 2025. Its earlier actions include removing reputation risk from bank examinations, clarifying how improper debanking is considered in licensing and certain examinations, and improving complaint intake and review.
The OCC said it is considering actions to prevent banks from discriminating against customers or prospective customers on the basis of political or religious beliefs, and to address the role of reputation risk in bank decision-making. Gould said that despite certain efforts by the largest banks to rein in these practices, he is not confident they will be enough. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it will fully investigate whether the institutions featured in the report and others have complied with federal consumer financial laws.
JPMorgan, Bank of America, U.S. Bank and Capital One told investors over the past year that they were responding to requests from federal agencies about discontinuing financial services for certain customers. JPMorgan Chase said the report discusses a limited number of historical interactions among the nearly 90 million customers and small businesses it serves across the country and around the world.
JPMorgan also said it agreed with the administration on a broader point: years of operating in a regulatory environment that often second-guessed decisions contributed to a culture of caution across the banking industry. BMO referred to a Bank Policy Institute statement that the industry supports fair access to banking services. Wells Fargo declined to comment.