Some of the largest banks in the United States “debanked” customers because of their political or religious beliefs, as well as the industries in which they operated, according to a report from the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Released Wednesday, the report examines a practice that President Trump has claimed unfairly targets conservatives. The issue has also drawn attention from cryptocurrency investors, who say banks have closed their accounts or refused to serve them because of concerns about the crypto industry.
The OCC said its review fulfilled the requirements of Mr. Trump’s 2025 executive order, which directed federal banking regulators to examine complaints and identify institutions that denied services because of customers’ views.
Conservative groups have argued that financial institutions singled them out, but the OCC also found cases involving organizations aligned with Democrats. The agency noted that debanking can have legitimate legal or regulatory causes, including suspected fraud or an overdrawn account.
After reviewing 100,000 complaints and hundreds of bank decisions made between 2020 and September 2025, the OCC concluded that the nine largest national banks under its supervision maintained policies that influenced decisions based on customers’ 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,” Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould said in a statement Wednesday.
Among the cases cited was WePay, a payment processor that is now defunct and was acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2017. The OCC said WePay closed accounts belonging to several merchants who sold MAGA- or Trump-related merchandise.
“Our policies prohibit discrimination against customers based on political or religious views,” a JPMorgan spokesperson said. WePay’s procedures “did not meet our expectations. We identified it, corrected it, and the business no longer operates.”
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The OCC also identified instances in which banks restricted services because of a customer’s line of work. Businesses involved in oil and gas exploration, coal mining and firearms, for example, faced limits on access to certain financial services, the agency found.
Citibank and Wells Fargo, which were also mentioned in the report, declined to comment and referred questions to the Bank Policy Institute, the banking industry’s trade group.
“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 rather than reputational risk.”
