Trump OCC Gives Customers New Tools to Hold Banks Accountable for Anti-Gun Discrimination

By Larry Keane

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is giving bank customers, including firearm industry members, a clearer path to document politicized de-banking and enter those concerns into the regulatory record. The move is a welcome development to further implement President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14331, “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,” and marks another needed step toward ending the practice of denying lawful businesses access to essential financial services because “woke” banks disfavor the firearm industry.

NSSF has long reported on banks using vague “reputational risk” excuses and woke boardroom gun control policies to choke off access to accounts, loans, credit, payment processing and other essential financial services. That discrimination hit lawful, highly regulated businesses whose only offense was serving Americans who choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

President Trump’s order states banking decisions must be based on individualized, objective and risk-based analysis, not politics, ideology or hostility toward lawful business activity. The order specifically cited the former Obama administration-era Operation Choke Point as a “well-documented and systemic” effort by federal regulators to pressure banks away from serving lawful industries that are disfavored by the political left…like the firearm industry.

That insidious practice was discontinued under President Trump’s first term but returned anew in a privatized form under former President Joe Biden.

The OCC’s new public comment guidance, however, gives President Trump’s executive order practical force. The agency says bank customers and stakeholders can share de-banking experiences with the OCC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and those complaints may be considered when the agency reviews bank licensing filings. They may also be considered during Community Reinvestment Act examinations.

That’s the key shift. A bank that’s seeking approval for a merger, charter, branch opening or other significant transaction can no longer assume its record of politicized de-banking will remain buried in private emails, customer service denials or unexplained account closures.

OCC Adds Consequences

The OCC’s guidance states the agency will consider whether a bank has terminated individual customer accounts or categories of customer accounts, or refused to provide financial services to a person or category of persons, without assessing individual customer risk on a case-by-case basis. The OCC further states it may deny or condition approval of a licensing proposal by a bank with a record of politicized or unlawful de-banking.

That’s exactly the type of accountability the firearm industry has demanded and worked for years to generate.

This effort also builds on the OCC and FDIC’s final rule eliminating “reputation risk” from their supervisory programs. NSSF praised the announcement. The rule prohibits the agencies from criticizing or taking adverse action against a financial institution based on reputation risk and bars regulators from requiring, instructing or encouraging banks to close accounts or deny services based on political, social, cultural or religious views or beliefs, constitutionally protected speech or politically disfavored but lawful business activities perceived to present a so-called “reputation risk.”

Banks can still make legitimate safety-and-soundness decisions. They can still assess creditworthiness, compliance obligations, fraud risk and other real financial risks. What they can’t do is dress up politics as “compliance” and call discrimination “risk management.”

Firearm Industry Has Receipts

NSSF has documented several repeated and recent examples of financial discrimination against firearm-related businesses. Citigroup imposed conditions on firearm industry customers that attempted to dictate lawful commerce beyond what federal law requires. JPMorgan Chase has faced scrutiny after industry members received conflicting answers about whether the bank would serve firearm-related companies. Bank of America infamously ended financial services in 2018 to several firearm-related businesses. Wells Fargo did the same. Payment processors and other financial service providers, like JPMorgan Chase, have also reversed discriminatory policies only after sustained pressure and public accountability, including being called out by President Trump. Those developments are positive and should be highlighted as good behavior.

The common thread is clear. Lawful firearm manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, ranges and related businesses have been treated as politically disfavored customers instead of legitimate participants in interstate commerce. That is especially indefensible given the firearm industry is already among the most heavily regulated industries in the country and provides the products that make the exercise of Second Amendment rights possible.

Members Should Document the Record

The OCC is seeking specifics. Comments should include data, references and concrete information that helps regulators identify issues warranting investigation. The agency also explains that comments may support or oppose applications, ask for more time, request a hearing or suggest approval only with conditions.

That gives firearm industry members a meaningful opportunity to turn their experiences into a regulatory record that banks cannot ignore.

This isn’t the end of the fight. Executive action and agency rules can be weakened by future administrations, which is why Congress should still codify fair access protections. But the OCC’s implementation of Executive Order 14331 is a strong, necessary step. Banks that used financial services as a political weapon should now understand the ground has shifted. The firearm industry will keep pressing until access to banking is based on lawful commerce and objective risk, not antigun politics.

 

Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.