OCC finds debanking policies at nine major US banks, including restrictions on crypto firms

Oct 14, 2026

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a report on October 14, 2026, finding nine major U.S. banks maintained policies that restricted financial services on political, religious, or subjective grounds. Initiated under President Donald Trump's August 2025 executive order, the review cited restrictions on digital asset firms, energy companies, and political advocacy groups. While Comptroller Jonathan Gould cited irrefutable evidence of debanking, the agency stopped short of issuing fines, while banks attributed their actions to regulatory compliance pressures.

OCC debanking report findings

▪Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould stated on October 14, 2026, that the agency's findings provide irrefutable evidence of debanking and discrimination, but the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency did not announce fines or penalties against the banks.
▪The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency acknowledged in its report that it was unable to comprehensively quantify the full extent or cost of debanking actions across the U.S. banking system.
▪The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a report on October 14, 2026, finding nine major U.S. banks maintained policies restricting financial services to certain customers and businesses on political, religious, or subjective grounds.
▪The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency identified JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp, Capital One, PNC Financial Services, Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Bank of Montreal as the nine institutions in its debanking review.

JPMorgan Chase debanking incidents

▪JPMorgan Chase employees altered internal records to remove references to a conservative retailer's political orientation after repeatedly declining commercial services to the business between 2021 and 2023.
▪JPMorgan Chase payment processor WePay closed a merchant's account in 2021 for selling merchandise promoting Donald Trump's Make America Great Again brand, alleging the products promoted hate, violence, or racial intolerance.

Debanking cases at other major banks

▪The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reported that PNC Financial Services declined a line of credit to a media company in 2021 after employees raised concerns about its conservative owners' public views.
▪Toronto-Dominion Bank required escalation of loan requests from a pro-life non-profit organization whose national director was flagged as having a high political and media profile.
▪Capital One Financial Corp. declined services to abortion rights organizations, a public education group whose political arm endorsed Democrats, and a gun rights group, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Debate and rules on reputational risk

▪Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould stated that bank decisions to restrict services to coal companies were based on public protests and negative headlines rather than financial risk.
▪The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found that major banks maintained broad reputational-risk policies that lacked clear, measurable standards and objective risk-based criteria.
▪The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued a final reputation-risk rule on April 7, 2026, prohibiting supervisors from using anti-money laundering concerns as a pretext for reputation-risk supervision.
▪The Bank Policy Institute stated that it supports clear and consistent standards promoting banking access while prioritizing supervisory attention on material financial risk rather than reputational risk.

Restrictions on digital asset firms

▪The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reported that many major banks maintained public and nonpublic policies restricting financial services for digital asset issuers, exchanges, and administrators, frequently citing financial crime considerations.
▪The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's 47-page report did not provide specific case examples of debanking directly tied to digital asset activities.

National trust charters for crypto firms

▪The Independent Community Bankers of America sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in October 2026, alleging the regulator overstepped its authority by granting national trust bank charters to cryptocurrency firms.
▪In December 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved national trust bank charters for five firms, including Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paxos, and First National Digital Currency Bank.

Executive order driving OCC review

▪The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency launched its review of nearly 100,000 complaints and roughly 420,000 pages of documents following Donald Trump's August 2025 executive order.
▪Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14331 in August 2025, directing federal banking regulators to investigate and prevent debanking based on ideological, political, or religious grounds.

Trump debanking allegations

▪Donald Trump filed a $5 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase and chief executive Jamie Dimon in January 2026, alleging his accounts were closed for political reasons, while JPMorgan filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on October 13, 2026.
▪Donald Trump stated in a 2025 interview that Bank of America refused to provide him an account when he attempted to deposit over $1 billion.