Technologies

Treasury says largest U.S. banks let politics influence who received banking services

New Treasury Department findings may lend weight to President Donald Trump’s long-running grievance that major banks have discriminated against conservatives.

The Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found some of the largest banks serving the U.S. allowed political considerations, public pressure and social concerns to influence decisions about who received banking services, according to a sweeping report released Wednesday.

The OCC said it reviewed the nine largest national banks under its supervision, examining nearly 100,000 complaints and about 420,000 pages of documents. It found that all nine had used “reputation risk” policies that lacked “clear,” “objective” standards and could disadvantage customers because of their political or religious views or lawful business activities.

“Banks should make decisions based on financial risk, not the political or social preferences of their employees or executives,” Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said, according to a transcript of his in remarks Wednesday in Lexington, Kentucky.

The findings may lend new regulatory weight to a grievance President Donald Trump has pressed since returning to office. Trump has repeatedly accused and sued major banks for discriminating against conservatives and has said he was personally “debanked” after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, claims banks have denied.

The report lands a day after the OCC and other Treasury regulators imposed more than $1.2 billion in penalties on Bank of America

The review covered JPMorgan Chase

The OCC stopped short of announcing fines or sanctions Wednesday, but said it is considering additional rules aimed at preventing political or religious discrimination.

Among the cases it highlighted: JPMorgan subsidiary WePay closed accounts belonging to merchants selling Trump and conservative merchandise. An internal screening list included terms such as “MAGA,” “Make America Great” and “America First,” even though the OCC found neither WePay nor JPMorgan had formal written standards for deciding when flagged material amounted to prohibited hate or violence.

JPMorgan told CNBC its policies prohibit discrimination based on political or religious views and said WePay’s process “did not meet our expectations.” The bank said it fixed the issue and has since shut down the business.

“We are not forcing these banks to serve every customer,” Gould said. “Instead, banks should evaluate every customer on objective, risk-based criteria.”

Citi declined to comment. The other banks did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The Bank Policy Institute, which represents large U.S. and foreign banks, said in a statement that the industry supports “clear and consistent standards that promote access while maintaining sound risk management,” adding that political or religious beliefs should not affect access to banking services.

The report also found examples cutting the other way politically.

Capital One declined relationships with an abortion-rights group after noting that about 95% of its political contributions went to Democrats, and with a public education group whose political arm endorsed only Democratic candidates. It also passed on a gun-rights group over concerns that banking it could look like an endorsement.

The practices extended beyond overtly political groups too, the report indicates.

The OCC found restrictions affecting firearms, fossil fuels, private prisons, tobacco and cryptocurrency, and said some banks’ appetite for those businesses shifted with the political climate — risking a “whipsaw” effect between administrations.

All nine banks told the OCC they have since revised or consolidated policies aimed at ensuring fair access. But the regulator said none has fully acknowledged past debanking decisions or created a comprehensive program to remediate affected customers.

Technologies

Netflix to lay off roughly 1,000 employees, or 6% of workforce

Netflix will lay off roughly 6% of its workforce, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.

Netflix

The job cuts will largely impact the product, tech, legal and HR teams.

“Our mission – to entertain the world – is ambitious, and delivering on it requires us to be disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters wrote in the email to employees. “Our business is strong and growing, and we remain on track to deliver our full year forecast.

We’ll continue to invest aggressively in high impact areas to improve our service and further drive growth and innovation.

“Doing that means making focused choices across the business so we can keep delivering for our members, partners, employees, and investors,” the note said.

Netflix said it did not have additional comments beyond the co-CEOs’ memo. The company is due to report quarterly earnings on Oct. 20.

The layoffs come just a few weeks after Sarandos told attendees at the Bloomberg Screentime conference that the company was “not growing as fast as I want.”

Netflix has faced a paradox in recent months. It continues to post solid profits and remains the biggest player in the streaming realm, but its viewing time has stagnated and the main driver of new subscriber acquisitions has been its password-sharing crackdown and the launch of a cheaper, ad-supported tier.

Netflix’s biggest threat has been YouTube, but looming on the horizon is Skydance

Netflix has diversified its content in recent years, expanding into live sports, documentaries and video games in order to compete for share of consumer attention. At the same time, it’s lacked the water-cooler-type hits like “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game” that previously boosted subscriber growth and viewership.

And Netflix is not the only company looking to cut costs in the media space. Last month, Disney said it would lay off around 300 employees, with the majority of cuts coming from human resources and technology roles.

— CNBC’s Julia Boorstin and Stephen Desaulniers contributed to this report.

Technologies

Trump’s diesel dilemma — by the numbers

Conflicts in Ukraine and Iran have created major ripple effects across global energy markets causing major price swings.

Diesel prices are surging as midterms approach – and they are likely to stay high in the near future, according to analysts.

The International Energy Agency’s monthly report for October, released Wednesday, was the latest to predict that constraints on the diesel market will likely keep prices elevated into next year. The group warned that even if refineries step up production of diesel into the year-end, inventories will likely remain strained until the second half of 2027.

Last Friday, President Donald Trump unexpectedly paused sanctions on Russian diesel fuel and announced that he reached a deal with President Vladimir Putin in which the Kremlin would release 4.8 million metric tons of diesel, or nearly 36 million barrels, to the global market.

Over the weekend, he took to Truth Social to announce an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later accused Russia of attacking the country’s energy facilities.

The foreign policy developments come as rising fuel prices — particularly skyrocketing diesel — have become a major flashpoint ahead of this year’s midterm election. But releasing Russian diesel to the global market is unlikely to drop prices in the near term. A note from Goldman Sachs last week even predicted that diesel prices will remain high through 2027 as refineries struggle to meet demand.

Here’s what the numbers tell us so far:

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Wholesale diesel prices have more than doubled since the beginning of 2026 through the end of September as both the war in Iran and Russia’s war in Ukraine have dramatically cut global supply.

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Trump has insisted that the war in Ukraine is to blame for high diesel prices. On July 8, Russia banned diesel exports after Ukraine struck its refineries. In the U.S., the price of a gallon of diesel rose nearly 40% between July 6 and Sept. 22.

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However, the price of diesel had already jumped after the Iran war started and was still 20% above its prewar level when Russia instituted its export ban, making that tightening of supply feel that much more acute.

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Indeed, both conflicts have created major ripple effects across global energy markets causing major swings, sometimes daily.

Technologies

Container ship sinks in Strait of Hormuz as Iran escalates attacks

A Singapore‑registered container ship capsized in the Strait of Hormuz after being struck by an unknown projectile, with all 21 crew rescued. Iran has intensified strikes on commercial vessels in the region, aiming to curb a rebound in crude oil exports.

A container ship capsized in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday amid Iran’s intensified assaults on commercial shipping.

The Singapore‑registered GFS Pride sank after being hit by an unknown projectile and igniting. All 21 crew members were rescued without injury, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said.

“These attacks are unprovoked, unjustifiable and violate international law,” the Singapore maritime authority said in a Wednesday statement.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said early Wednesday that the vessel exploded and sank after striking a naval mine, per state news agency Tasnim. However, maritime security firm Marisks says there is no independent proof that a mine caused the Pride’s sinking.

Marisks warned in a security alert that Iran’s claims “align with a sustained psychological operations campaign designed to sow fear, heighten uncertainty and deter commercial shipping” in the Hormuz area.

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In recent weeks Iran has ramped up strikes on commercial vessels passing through Hormuz, seeking to curb a rebound in crude oil exports via the waterway.

According to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre, over 20 ships—primarily oil tankers—have been attacked this month across Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

The International Maritime Organization, a UN agency, reports that this month’s attacks have resulted in two sailors missing and 12 injured.

Crude oil exports via Hormuz reached prewar levels in September after U.S. forces escorted tankers through the strait, yet shipments have since declined as attacks intensified.

Data from Kpler shows crude exports through Hormuz averaged 8.5 million barrels per day in the week ending Oct. 12, a drop of roughly 40% from pre‑war levels.

Overall shipments from the region—including pipelines to the Gulf of Oman and Red Sea—were 14 million barrels per day, about 20% lower than prewar figures, the data indicated.

Kpler reports that daily flows are highly variable, with just 3 million barrels moving through Hormuz on Monday and 6 million barrels on Friday.