OCC report finds major US banks denied services to conservatives and Christian groups
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a report on Oct. 15, 2026 showing that nine of America’s biggest banks denied or restricted services to conservative businesses, Trump‑merchandise sellers and Christian groups because of their political or religious affiliations.
The findings matter because they suggest that banks are allowing political and religious bias to outweigh objective financial risk assessments, potentially limiting lawful businesses’ access to essential banking services.
According to the OCC, all nine national banks it reviewed – JPMorgan Chase, PNC, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Citibank, Bank of America, BMO, TD Bank and U.S. Bank – maintained policies that permitted “reputation‑risk” decisions. Employees flagged terms such as “MAGA,” “America First” and even owners’ political commentary, then used those flags to close accounts or deny credit lines.
Specific examples include PNC’s denial of a credit line to a media company after staff cited the owners’ conservative commentary; Wells Fargo pressuring a payment intermediary to cut off a religious nonprofit that supported traditional marriage; and Capital One’s refusal of banking opportunities for an abortion‑rights organization, a public‑education group that endorsed Democrats, and a gun‑rights group.
JPMorgan Chase’s WePay subsidiary also closed accounts for merchants selling Trump‑related merchandise, citing internal screens for “MAGA” and “Make America Great.” Some closures were later reversed, but the report notes that internal records were edited to remove politically charged language.
The OCC documented nearly 100,000 complaints, hundreds of individual decisions and about 420,000 pages of bank documents covering the period from 2020 through September 2025. Employees often cited anticipated pressure from the Biden administration as a factor in rejecting customers, especially in the firearms and private‑prison sectors.
Regulators are weighing additional rules that would bring debanking records into merger and community‑lending reviews and would allow customers to obtain confidential supervisory information in private litigation. The agency also plans to encourage private legal action where warranted.
Bank representatives responded by emphasizing their support for fair access and noting recent revisions to “fair‑access” policies. The Bank Policy Institute said the industry is working to ensure that government regulations enable banks to serve law‑abiding customers, while JPMorgan acknowledged that a “culture of caution” driven by regulatory scrutiny contributed to the practices.
Both the OCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau indicated that further oversight and possible enforcement actions could follow, as the agency seeks to ensure that banking decisions rest on measurable, risk‑based standards rather than subjective judgments about public opinion.
