Joshua Arnold -WashingtonStand.com
Bank debanking over political and religious views is at the center of a new federal report. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released the findings Wednesday. Its review covers the nine largest U.S. banks from 2020 to 2025.
According to the 47-page report, those banks deliberately discriminated against clients whose views they considered controversial. The findings also describe the influence of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Conservative and pro-marriage organizations lost banking access following its recommendations, according to the report.
“This is just shocking information,” exclaimed Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-Fla.) on “Washington Watch.”
“These are things that happen in communist regimes or fascist regimes, where the government is playing politics in an aggressive way. … This is why we had to go in to look at the Deep State and why we need to have this transparency in government.”
Bank Debanking Review Covers Nine Major Banks
The OCC began its investigation in September 2025. At that time, the nine banks ranked largest by asset size.
The review covered JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo Bank, and U.S. Bank. It also included Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank, and BMO Bank.
In total, investigators reviewed approximately 100,000 complaints and hundreds of bank decisions. They also examined 420,000 pages of documents.
Bank Debanking Decisions Relied on Subjective Standards
According to the report, banks lacked clear standards for evaluating reputational risk.
It found that “the banks largely lacked clear and measurable standards and objective, risk-based criteria for assessing the reputation risks of customer relationships.”
The banks acknowledged “the highly subjective nature of a reputation risk assessment.” Nevertheless, they suddenly closed longstanding clients’ accounts.
Moreover, the report identified the outside sources banks used when making these decisions. These included “the results of negative news searches and non-traditional sources, such as the opinions of advocacy organizations.”
Political Debanking: PNC Decision Cites SPLC
For example, PNC in 2021 “declined to issue a line of credit to a media company due to reputation risk concerns.”
One company owner was “a conservative political commentator.” Meanwhile, another owner had a foundation supporting Christian conservative organizations.
According to the report, that foundation “has funded several Christian conservative groups, including several identified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC].”
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins criticized the SPLC’s influence.
“This underscores why the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been indicted, should be nowhere near government,” he declared. “No one should use them as a reference. They’re a political attack group.”
Religious Debanking and Pressure on Financial Access
In congressional testimony last year, Perkins also described the SPLC’s debanking efforts.
He noted how “banks, payment processors, and technology companies increasingly relied on SPLC classifications to decide which organizations could maintain accounts, process transactions, or operate online.”
Furthermore, Perkins cited testimony from SPLC official Lecia Brooks.
“SPLC officials openly acknowledged this strategy before Congress in January 2020. SPLC official Lecia Brooks stated: ‘We have lobbied internet companies, one by one. … A key part of this strategy has been to target these organizations’ funding,’” said Perkins.
“FRC experienced this from Truist Financial, Fidelity Investments, GuideStar, Mobile Cause, and other technology-related companies.”
Ultimately, the OCC report found that subjective policies disadvantaged customers with certain beliefs.
It concluded that “the banks’ implementation of ambiguous reputation risk policies disadvantaged Americans holding certain political, religious, and social views.”