Nine Major Banks ‘Denied, Debanked, and Discriminated Against’ Conservatives, Trump Admin Probe Finds

A new federal report finds “irrefutable evidence that the nation’s largest banks have denied, debanked and discriminated against” conservatives, religious organizations and lawful businesses because of their political beliefs or activities.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released the results of its investigation into the nine largest banks it supervises in a 47-page report on Wednesday. Those banks include JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank and BMO Bank.

The revelations in the report include allegations that JPMorgan Chase’s former payment processor WePay closed accounts belonging to merchants selling Trump and Make America Great Again merchandise after the bank’s screening system apparently flagged phrases including “MAGA,” “Make America Great,” and “America First.”

The report also accuses WePay of closing accounts associated with conservative religious organizations, including one that was labeled an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

PNC, meanwhile, allegedly denied a line of credit to a media company after employees argued the company’s conservative owners had expressed opinions “very contrary to PNC’s beliefs/values.”

Wells Fargo pushed a payment processor to debank a religious nonprofit over its opposition to same-sex marriage, and also declined loans to firearms businesses amid concerns about potential Biden administration pressure, the report found.

President Trump directed the agency to carry out the investigation in an August 2025 executive order guaranteeing fair banking access. As part of the probe, the agency reviewed nearly 100,000 complaints and approximately 420,000 pages of bank documents from the time between 2020 and September 2025.

Trump’s executive order directed the agency “to determine whether these banks’ policies or practices may have required, encouraged, or otherwise influenced banks to deny or limit access to financial services to Americans because of their political or religious beliefs or lawful business activities.” 

“The OCC’s findings show that, between 2020 and September 2025, all nine banks had such policies,” the report says. 

In some cases, the banks targeted Democrats as well. One unnamed bank “declined to provide financial services to a public education organization due to its partisan leanings — namely, the organization’s political arm’s endorsement of solely Democratic candidates,” while another, apparently motivated by “fear of being on the wrong side of public opinion,” distanced itself from “certain customer affiliations that could possibly be viewed as partisan.”

“Until 2025, one bank’s business line treated a business engaged in ‘partisan activity’ as presenting presumptively high reputation risk. While the policy appears to have been applied consistently to organizations on both sides of the political spectrum, the bank’s business line ultimately declined to provide financial services to organizations merely for the constitutionally protected views the organizations espoused,” the report said. “By contrast, organizations deemed to be ‘bipartisan’ received services.” 

Banks also implemented public and nonpublic policies restricting certain industry sectors’ access to financial services, including those in oil and gas exploration, coal mining or coal-powered plants, firearms or ammunition manufacturing or distribution, construction or operation of detention facilities, the manufacturing, distribution or online retail of tobacco or e-cigarettes, and digital asset activities.

The agency now says it is “considering actions to prevent banks from discriminating against customers or prospective customers on the basis of their political or religious beliefs and to address the problematic role of reputation risk in bank decision-making.” 

“Americans should have access to financial services regardless of their beliefs, affiliations, or political views,” Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said in a statement. “Fair access to financial services is not a mantra — it is a mandate. The Trump Administration is committed to ending the weaponization of finance against hardworking Americans, once and for all.” 

JPMorgan Chase Bank told Fox Business its policies “prohibit discrimination against customers based on political or religious views.” 

“The report also discusses a limited number of historical interactions among the nearly 90 million customers and small businesses we serve across the country and around the world,” the bank added. “We take this seriously, learned from it, and improved the way we do business. 

“We agree with the Administration on a broader point: years of operating in a regulatory environment that often second-guessed decisions contributed to a culture of caution across the banking industry. That system needs fixing,” JPMorgan Chase added.