Comptroller Statement on Final Rule Eliminating Reputation Risk from Bank Supervision
Summary
The OCC and FDIC jointly issued a final rule removing reputation risk as a basis for bank supervisory action. The rule, presented by Comptroller Jonathan V. Gould, prohibits regulators from using subjective reputation-based grounds to deny banking services to lawful businesses and individuals. The rule implements the President's fair banking Executive Order and requires ongoing review of alleged debanking actions at the largest national banks.
What changed
The OCC and FDIC jointly issued a final rule formally eliminating reputation risk from the bank supervisory framework. The rule removes a subjective measure that regulators and banks have used as pretext for denying banking services to lawful businesses and individuals. The Comptroller's statement explicitly acknowledged that reputation risk has too often served as a basis for decisions unrelated to safety and soundness, financial risk, or BSA/AML compliance.
Banks previously subject to supervisory scrutiny on reputation grounds should review their compliance posture under the new objective standards. The rule requires the OCC to continue investigating alleged debanking by large national banks and ensure neither regulators nor banks restrict financial services access based on political, religious, or lawful business activity grounds. Compliance teams should monitor for implementation guidance.
What to do next
- Update bank supervision and examination frameworks to remove reputation risk considerations
- Review pending supervisory actions for compliance with new objective standards
- Monitor for OCC implementation guidance on fair banking Executive Order
Archived snapshot
Apr 8, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
News Release 2026-27 | April 7, 2026
Comptroller Statement on Final Rule Eliminating Reputation Risk from Bank Supervision
Share This Page:
WASHINGTON—Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould issued the following statement today at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s board meeting about a final rule that codifies the elimination of reputation risk from Office of the Comptroller of the Currency supervisory programs.
Today’s final rule is another step toward reducing the opportunities for regulatory abuse by removing reputation risk as a basis for government action.
Reputation risk is not a sound basis for supervision. Regulators and banks have too often used it as a pretext for decisions that have nothing to do with safety and soundness, financial risk, or even BSA/AML compliance. The result, in too many cases, has been lawful businesses and individuals denied access to banking services. Supervisory action should be grounded in less subjective measures. This rule, together with other actions we are taking, helps move us in that direction.
Our rulemaking also implements the President’s fair banking Executive Order. But our work is not done under that EO. Although we have made significant progress in our review of the alleged debanking actions of the largest national banks, we continue to delve into the details of specific complaints and policy choices. Our collective efforts under the EO should shine a spotlight on the actions of agencies and certain banks, bringing accountability and ensuring that neither we nor banks restrict access to financial services on the basis of political or religious beliefs or lawful business activities.
I want to thank the teams at the FDIC and the OCC for their efforts in finalizing this rule, and I look forward to its implementation.
Related Link
- Remarks (PDF)
Media Contact
Stephanie Collins
(202) 649-6870
Topic(s):
Named provisions
Related changes
Get daily alerts for OCC News Issuances
Daily digest delivered to your inbox.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
Source
About this page
Every important government, regulator, and court update from around the world. One place. Real-time. Free. Our mission
Source document text, dates, docket IDs, and authority are extracted directly from OCC.
The plain-English summary, classification, and "what to do next" steps are AI-generated from the original text. Cite the source document, not the AI analysis.
Classification
Who this affects
Taxonomy
Browse Categories
Get alerts for this source
We'll email you when OCC News Issuances publishes new changes.