The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a report, “Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans,” finding that the nation’s nine largest banks maintained policies restricting banking services based on customers’ religious or political beliefs. The report said banks used factors such as reputational risk when deciding whether to serve customers.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said Family Research Council was among the organizations affected. He wrote that banks also referenced the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate group” designations when assessing customers. Perkins testified earlier this year before the House Judiciary Committee about efforts to pressure financial institutions to deny service to Christian and conservative organizations.
One day before the OCC report, the Treasury Department announced $1.2 billion in penalties against Bank of America. Regulators said the bank failed to properly monitor and report more than $5 billion in suspicious financial activity, including transactions that raised money laundering concerns. The department described the bank’s compliance program as deficient and ineffective.
These are separate federal actions. But together they show why religious liberty must include access to ordinary financial services. Ohio churches, ministries, schools, pro-life organizations and families should not risk losing a bank account because they hold biblical convictions about the sanctity of life, marriage, or human sexuality.
Banks have a duty to follow the law and protect the financial system from crime. Government regulators have a duty to make sure lawful customers are treated fairly, whatever their religious or political beliefs. The next step is clear: federal oversight must protect Americans from viewpoint-based debanking and hold banks accountable to the same standards they apply to their customers.
