U.S. regulator says nine big banks removed customers over political and religious views

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) says nine large U.S. banks have “debanked” certain customers by allowing political or religious views to affect whether they received services. The regulator describes the practice as denying fair access to banking and says it raises concerns about discrimination in consumer financial treatment.

According to the OCC, it reviews extensive complaint records and internal materials as part of its assessment. Quartz reports the regulator examined nearly 100,000 complaints and about 420,000 pages of documents tied to JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and seven other lenders. CBS and PYMNTS similarly cite the OCC’s findings and note that the OCC released a report titled “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans.” Across the outlets, the core focus is the same: the OCC alleges that service decisions in the nine banks’ customer relationships were influenced by political or religious considerations rather than legitimate banking factors.