The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Monday announced actions to end “unlawful debanking” in the federal banking system.
Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said in a statement, “The OCC is taking steps to end the weaponization of the financial system. We are working to root out bank activities that unlawfully debank or discriminate against customers on the basis of political or religious beliefs, or lawful business activities. If and when the OCC identifies such activity, it will take action to end it.”
The OCC, following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, released a bulletin to banks clarifying how it defines “unlawful debanking” in licensing filings as well as assessing banks’ record of performance under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The OCC will make considerations for a bank’s “debanking” practices in determining its CRA rating.
As part of its mission to assess the extent to which the banking system has become politicized, the OCC initiatlly requested information from the nine largest regulated institutions regarding their debanking activities. The Comptroller also updated its online customer complainer website to assist consumer report.
“Individuals may have been targeted and surveilled based on where they shop or what they believe in and, in some cases, unlawfully debanked,” Gould continued. “The OCC will not tolerate the misuse of customer financial records as a political tool. The OCC intends to work with other government agencies to ensure this conduct is identified and addressed.”
The Trump executive order on debanking tasked the Small Business Administration (SBA) with ensuring that financial institutions stop the Obama- and Biden-era debanking practices, in which Democrat officials pushed financial institutions to debank disfavored companies such as crypto groups and conservative organizations.
The SBA has stipulated that its lenders have until December 5 to comply with the Trump executive order ending debanking and until January 5 to submit a report to the SBA detailing their compliance.
“Since the Obama Administration, financial institutions have — both independently and at the direction of federal regulators — weaponized the banking system against Americans who refused to bend the knee to a partisan ideology. Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, whose own family and businesses were debanked, those days are over,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in a statement in August.
She added, “This Administration is putting an end to the discriminatory debanking practices that have cost too many hardworking Americans their businesses or the opportunity to start one. Access to banking should not be a partisan issue — but far too many confirmed debanking cases have targeted right-leaning businesses, non-profits, and people — including Christian, pro-life, and Second Amendment organizations.”
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