Ensuring Fair Banking for Every Citizen in America
President Donald J. Trump signed the 2025 Executive Order titled "Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans" on August 7, 2025. This order aims to prohibit politicized or unlawful debanking by financial institutions in the United States, ensuring that banking decisions are based on individualized, objective, and risk-based analyses rather than on political views, religious beliefs, or lawful business activities.
Key Measures and Directives
The Executive Order outlines several policy measures and directives to be implemented:
- Federal banking regulators will be directed to remove the concept of "reputational risk" from their guidelines and examination manuals, which have been used to justify debanking due to political or religious reasons.
- Regulators, including the Treasury, OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve, are mandated to review past and current financial institution policies and actions for unlawful or politicized debanking within 120 days and to take remedial enforcement actions, including fines or consent decrees.
- The Small Business Administration (SBA) is required to compel financial institutions under its jurisdiction to make reasonable efforts to reinstate customers previously denied services due to unlawful debanking.
- Cases of unlawful debanking, especially those based on religious discrimination, will be referred to the Department of Justice for potential civil rights, antitrust, or consumer protection law violations.
- The Secretary of the Treasury will develop a comprehensive strategy addressing politicized debanking, potentially proposing legislative or regulatory solutions.
Impact of the Executive Order
The Executive Order is expected to have a significant impact on the banking sector:
- Financial institutions, including large national banks and community banks, must review and possibly revise their account closure and underwriting policies to comply with the Order and avoid penalties.
- The order may reshape regulatory expectations for banks of all sizes by expanding scrutiny on the reasons for account denials or terminations and demanding transparency and fairness.
- The order signals a heightened regulatory and enforcement risk for financial institutions found to have engaged in politicized debanking in the past or continuing such practices.
Background
The executive order comes amid broader bipartisan governmental attention on debanking, with Congress expected to closely monitor the implementation and enforcement of the Order. Some financial institutions have been accused of participating in Government-directed surveillance programs targeting conservatism and the political right following the events at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Future Steps
Within 180 days, the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, will develop a strategy to combat politicized or unlawful debanking activities of financial regulators and institutions. Additionally, Federal banking regulators will review their current supervisory and complaint data to identify any financial institution that has engaged in unlawful debanking on the basis of religion and refer such matters to the Attorney General for an appropriate civil action.
The President's executive order enforces a federal policy ensuring fair and non-discriminatory access to banking services by outlawing politically or religiously motivated debanking and authorizing vigorous regulatory and legal actions against offending financial institutions.
- The Executive Order, enforcing fair banking for all Americans, could significantly impact the financial sector, as it necessitates financial institutions to reevaluate and potentially revise their account closure and underwriting policies to adhere to the Order and avoid penalties.
- In the aftermath of the Order, the future steps may include a comprehensive strategy from the Secretary of the Treasury to combat politicized or unlawful debanking activities, increased scrutiny on regulatory expectations for banks, and potential legal action against financial institutions found to have engaged in such practices.
