Overview

• The order "Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans" mandates that regulators identify politicized account denials within 120 days and remove reputational-risk guidance within 180 days.
• Acting FDIC Chairman Travis Hill pledged rulemaking to forbid examiners from citing reputational risk, while the OCC and Federal Reserve have already excised such language from their supervisory materials.
• Federal banking agencies may levy fines, enforce consent decrees or refer noncompliant institutions to the Justice Department under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and related statutes.
• Industry sources caution that ambiguous definitions of debanking and undefined enforcement procedures could impose significant operational and reporting burdens on banks.
• States including Tennessee, Florida and Idaho have passed or proposed debanking bans covering banking and insurance, raising potential clashes between federal directives and state laws.