Top U.S. banks dropped customers over political and religious views, regulator says

Top U.S. banks have “debanked” customers because of their political or religious views, as well as their business activities, according to a report from the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. 

The report, released on Wednesday, examines a practice that President Trump has claimed discriminates against conservatives over their views. Debanking has also been highlighted by some cryptocurrency investors, who claim their accounts have been closed because banks are uncomfortable working with crypto industry clients. 

The OCC said the report was in accordance with Mr. Trump’s 2025 executive order requiring federal banking regulators to review complaints to identify financial institutions that had declined business with clients because of their views.

Some conservatives have argued that they’ve been unfairly targeted by financial institutions, although the OCC found that some banks had also refused to do business with Democratic-leaning organizations. Debanking can also occur for legal and regulatory reasons, such as if a bank detects potentially fraudulent activity or an account is overdrawn. 

The OCC, which reviewed 100,000 complaints and hundreds of bank decisions between 2020 and September 2025, found that the nine largest national banks it supervises had policies that swayed their decisions based on political, religious or business activities. 

“Americans should have access to financial services regardless of their beliefs, affiliations or political views. Fair access to financial services is not a mantra — it is a mandate,” said Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould in a statement on Wednesday.

The incidents cited in the report include the payment processor WePay, which is now defunct and was acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2017. WePay closed the accounts of several merchants selling MAGA- or Trump-related items, the OCC said.

“Our policies prohibit discrimination against customers based on political or religious views,” a JPMorgan spokesperson said. WePay’s processes “did not meet our expectations. We identified it, corrected it, and the business no longer operates.”

The OCC also found that some banks turned away customers due to their industries. For instance, businesses involved in oil and gas exploration, coal mining or firearms were restricted from some financial services, the agency concluded.

Other banks cited in the report, including Citibank and Wells Fargo, declined to comment and pointed to a statement from the Bank Policy Institute, a trade group for the banking industry. 

“The banking industry supports fair access to banking services and has been working to ensure that government regulations and policies enable banks to serve law-abiding customers,” the Bank Policy Institute said in response to the OCC’s findings.  

The group added, “We support efforts to establish clear and consistent standards that promote access while maintaining sound risk management, including the administration’s recent efforts to prioritize supervisory attention on material financial risk and rather than reputational risk.”