U.S. banks are asking the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to create national standards for banking services that would take precedence over state banking rules, according to a media report on Friday.
Large banks, specifically, are lobbying for uniform U.S. regulations on lending, bond issuance, providing investment bank services, or assessing anti-money risks, essentially limiting state power over their operations, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.
The push for national standards comes as the banking industry is seeking more favorable national rules, such as capital requirements, while the Trump administration provides a more favorable environment for easing regulatory burdens on corporate America.
The broader standards would reign in states’ ability to disrupt banks’ operations with rules on so-called “de-banking,” in which lenders allegedly deny services to customers for political or religious beliefs, the article said.
Banks plan to increase their lobbying efforts after meeting with the OCC earlier this year to advance the issue, the three sources told Reuters.
“We strongly support national preemption and believe federal fair access legislation or regulation would be a prudent move to address account closures in a consistent way across all states,” the Bank Policy Institute, an industry association, told the news organization in a statement.
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) said it supports a national standard “that expressly prohibits political or religious discrimination in banking,” Reuters said. Citigroup (NYSE:C), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) either declined to comment or didn’t respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
In Friday premarket trading, JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) stock rose 0.3%, Citi (NYSE:C) +0.3%, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) +0.4%, Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) +0.5%, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) +0.7%, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) +0.5%.
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