ICYMI: Senate Banking Committee Holds Hearing on Ensuring Fair Access

“This hearing demonstrated how government driven debanking was justified through opaque supervisory tools such as “reputation risk,” and why President Trump’s executive order was a critical first step to ensuring fair access.”

In case you missed it, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection held a hearing titled “Ensuring Fair Access to Banking: Policy Levers and Legislative Solutions.”

The hearing focused on the impacts of government-driven debanking on lawful industries and consumers and was led by U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC). Senator Tillis introduced a discussion draft titled the “Ensuring Fair Access to Banking Act of 2025” earlier this year.

On the hearing, Americans for Free Markets (AFFM) Executive Director David Ibsen, said:

“This hearing demonstrated how government driven debanking was justified through opaque supervisory tools such as “reputation risk,” and why President Trump’s executive order was a critical first step to ensuring fair access. The hearing underscored the bipartisan concern over the persistence of debanking and its impact on lawful industries and consumers. The testimony submitted reinforces the need for reform to ensure fair access and prohibit the use of reputational risk in bank oversight. Regulators need to make objective, reasonable and apolitical decisions moving forward.

“Passing legislation to codify fair banking access is the critical step necessary to ensuring a national standard that protects all Americans. Senator Tillis’ bill lays the framework to do just this, along with other meaningful efforts like Senator Tim Scott’s FIRM Act and STREAMLINE Act, Congress can give federal regulators and banks clear supervisory guidance and modernize archaic rules while ensuring  banks, like any business, are allowed to evaluate reputation risk that serves the interest of their shareholders, clients and the bank itself.  

During his opening remarks, Senator Tillis highlighted that law abiding citizens and U.S. businesses deserve reliable opportunities to access core banking services:

“Americans and U.S. companies rely on core banking services, deposit taking, checking, lending and transaction processing to go about their daily lives. When access to these services are denied, not because of risk or credit worthiness or illegal activity, but because of politics, religious beliefs or involvement in a legal but disavowed industry, we have a serious problem that demands congressional action.”

Dean Julie Hill from the University of Wyoming College of Law stressed the importance of a free market structure to mitigate the risks of debanking in the future:

“I believe that persistent allegations of debanking alone are enough for Congress to consider regulatory reforms. A stable banking system relies on public trust in government, bank supervisors, debanking and persistent rumors of debanking undercut trust in bank supervisors”

Dean Hill also emphasized that secrecy surrounding financial supervision makes it difficult to determine whether debanking decisions originate with regulators or banks, allowing blame-shifting and fueling public mistrust:

Confidential supervisory information is defined broadly to include “non-public information” including information that was created as part of the supervisory process. This prevents banks from disclosing regulatory pressure to debank customers.

As noted during the hearing, legislators and witnesses alike agree on the need for common-sense legislation that permanently protects both banks and consumers. Absent such lasting action, Americans could again face regulatory tactics similar to Operation Choke Point 1.0 and 2.0.

Read AFFM’s blog on the House Financial Services Committee’s recent hearing HERE.