Treasury Review Finds Top U.S. Banks Used Subjective Reputation Rules to Drop Customers

The largest commercial banks operating in the United States allowed political considerations, public pressure, and social issues to influence who received financial services, according to a regulatory review by the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reported by CNBC Business (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/14/treasury-banks-debanking-trump-reputation-risk.html).

The OCC examined nearly 100,000 customer complaints and approximately 420,000 pages of internal documents across the nine largest national banks under its oversight: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank, and BMO Bank. The agency concluded that all nine institutions maintained reputation risk policies lacking clear and objective standards, creating conditions that could disadvantage customers based on their political beliefs, religious views, or lawful commercial activities.

"Banks should make decisions based on financial risk, not the political or social preferences of their employees or executives," Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said in remarks delivered in Lexington, Kentucky. Gould added that the regulator is not mandating that institutions serve every customer, but rather evaluate applicants against objective, risk-based metrics.

The probe originated under an executive order from President Donald Trump, who has frequently accused major financial institutions of discriminating against conservatives and asserted he was debanked following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot—allegations banks have consistently denied. While the OCC did not issue fines or enforcement penalties alongside the report, the agency said it is weighing formal rules to prohibit political and religious discrimination in banking.

The report cited specific instances across multiple institutions. At JPMorgan Chase subsidiary WePay, accounts belonging to merchants selling conservative and Trump-related merchandise were closed after internal screening flagged terms including "MAGA," "Make America Great," and "America First." The OCC found that neither WePay nor JPMorgan maintained written criteria defining when flagged terms met thresholds for prohibited hate speech or violence. JPMorgan told CNBC Business that its policies forbid political discrimination, noted that WePay's processes fell short of company standards, and stated it had remediated the issue before shutting down the WePay business.

The review also detailed service denials on the other side of the political spectrum. Capital One declined business relationships with an abortion-rights organization after observing that roughly 95% of its political contributions went to Democrats, and rejected a public education organization whose political arm endorsed only Democratic candidates. The bank also declined a gun-rights group out of concern the relationship would be perceived as an endorsement.

The OCC noted that subjective restrictions extended into commercial sectors including cryptocurrency, firearms, fossil fuels, private prisons, and tobacco, warning that shifting institutional risk appetites created regulatory whipsaws between presidential administrations. While all nine surveyed banks reported updating or consolidating their fair-access policies, the OCC stated that none had fully acknowledged past debanking actions or established comprehensive remediation programs for affected clients.