OCC report finds major US banks restricted services based on beliefs

A report by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), titled ‘Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans’, has found that nine of the largest banks in the United States maintained policies that restricted banking services based on customers’ religious or political beliefs.

The investigation, which reviewed 100,000 complaints and 420,000 pages of documentation, examined whether customers were denied services due to their social or political views between 2020 and 2025. The OCC found that banks frequently cited ‘reputational risk’ as a justification for these decisions. This included scrutiny of religious groups, pro-life organizations, and conservative causes.

Specific instances noted in the report include WePay, a payment-processing operation owned by JPMorgan Chase, which closed a religious nonprofit’s account after employees internally characterized the group as having ‘strong anti-LGBTQ rhetoric’. The report also noted that banks utilized ‘hate group’ designations from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) when assessing customer risk.