Nine of the nation’s largest banks relied on subjective decision-making and the opinions of advocacy organizations to terminate customer accounts or deny service to potential customers—often because of Biblical beliefs on key moral issues—between 2020 and September 2025.
The findings, released Wednesday, were part of a report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that charters, regulates, and supervises banks and federal savings associations.
‘Irrefutable Evidence’
“Today’s report provides irrefutable evidence that the nation’s largest banks have denied, debanked and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses,” said Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould. “Americans should have access to financial services regardless of their beliefs, affiliations or political views. Fair access to financial services is not a mantra—it is a mandate.”
The OCC says it reviewed nearly 100,000 complaints, hundreds of bank decisions and about 420,000 pages of bank documents in its Debanking Review.
Franklin Graham’s 2023 Warning
In 2023, during the period reviewed by the OCC, Franklin Graham delivered the keynote address at the National Religious Broadcasters convention. He warned those in attendance, “We are living in a cancel culture that wants to destroy Christian organizations. They want us to shut our mouths. They don’t want to hear from us. Now, if you don’t preach the Gospel, you don’t have anything to worry about. If you’re not going to talk about sin, you don’t have anything to worry about. But if you’re going to try to preach and proclaim the Gospel, they’re going to try to shut you up.”
The report highlights a number of key findings the OCC found in its review. Among them:
The banks largely lacked clear and measurable standards and objective, risk-based criteria for assessing the reputational risks of customer relationships. The report added: “The banks also relied on various sources to inform these decisions, including the results of negative news searches and non-traditional sources, such as the opinions of advocacy organizations.”
The way the banks implemented ambiguous “reputation risk” policies disadvantaged Americans holding certain political, religious and social views.
Mere allegations, negative press or negative reviews contributed to some banks declining to serve average Americans, even in the absence of any validation of the underlying facts or concerns.
