Major banks discriminated against political targets

Major Banks Rejected Customers Over Political, Religious Views, Federal Watchdog Says

A federal review found so-called ‘reputation-risk’ policies influenced decisions involving customers on both the political left and right.

Nine of the largest U.S. banks maintained policies that disadvantaged some customers because of their political or religious views or their affiliation with lawful but “disfavored” industries, according to a sweeping review by a federal banking regulator.

In its report published on Oct. 14, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said it examined nearly 100,000 such complaints that occurred between 2020 and September 2025.

The banks named in the report are JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo (my bank), U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank, and BMO Bank.

According to the OCC, the banks all used policies that could encourage or influence decisions to deny or limit financial services for reasons beyond financial risk.

“Today’s report provides irrefutable evidence that the nation’s largest banks have denied, debanked and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses,” Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said in a statement.

The OCC also detailed several decisions involving WePay, a now-discontinued payment operation owned by JPMorgan Chase. In February 2021, WePay closed the account of a merchant selling merchandise supporting President Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again movement after determining that the products promoted “hate, violence, or racial intolerance.”

The company’s internal screening tools at various times included search terms such as “MAGA,” “Make America Great,” and “America First.” Some political and religious terms were added after the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, according to the report.

Read more...

It directly validates long-standing claims by Donald Trump and conservative leaders that financial institutions weaponized "reputation-risk" guidelines against political targets.