Trump Admin Frees Banks From Hostile Woke Climate and DEI Exams

Banking regulators under the Trump administration have postponed, scaled back or canceled exams on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues emphasized during the Biden administration, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

In recent months, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have reduced scrutiny of areas such as reputational risk, climate change risk and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), industry executives told Reuters. The changes are part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to curb regulatory practices it says are unrelated to the stability of the financial system.

“Thankfully, it appears that President Trump’s effort to strip political ideology from the banking industry is working,” OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation, told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation. “Climate activism, DEI, and other left-wing fixations should have no place in bank exams or in the way that banks do 💼Business.”

“The OCC is reexamining its supervisory approach to ensure it conforms to its statutory mission and reflects a risk tolerance enabling banks to support economic growth,” the office said in a statement to Reuters, adding that it “focuses on material financial risks.”