Crapo Commends OCC for Promoting Fair Access to Banking
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, praised the Office of the Comptroller of Currency today for proposing a rule that would require banks to evaluate customer risks individually and prevent them from terminating services to broad categories of customers.
“We are seeing a disturbing trend in the financial services industry – the intentional discrimination of entire industries, such as firearms manufacturers, by the largest banks in the United States,” said Crapo. “I commend the OCC for reaffirming that banks must not deny services or limit fair access to legal businesses and individuals. Business lending decisions should be based on creditworthiness, rather than politics or political pressure. This has long been a priority of mine, especially since the inception of Operation Choke Point, and I appreciate the critically important work the OCC has done on this issue.”
Chairman Crapo has repeatedly raised this issue with banking regulators and financial institutions in the past.
The OCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) on Fair Access to Banking signals to banks that the banks should not discriminate against legal businesses and individuals, and notes that banks should not be making national policy decisions about what legal products and services should be available to consumers and markets.
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