A new regulatory development in the United States has brought renewed attention to a longstanding issue within the UK shooting trade: access to banking services.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has welcomed a Final Rule issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which removes “reputational risk” from their supervisory frameworks.
The change is designed to prevent regulators from factoring reputational considerations into oversight decisions, a move the NSSF says will protect lawful firearms and ammunition businesses from being denied access to essential financial services.
Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the NSSF, said: “This Final Rule effectively puts a nail in the coffin of the ‘woke’ discrimination waged against firearm and ammunition businesses by banks attempting to choke off those businesses by denying them access to essential banking services. The Trump administration is delivering for the industry that makes exercising Second Amendment freedoms possible. This unscrupulous practice of weaponizing finance was blatantly illegal and had already been rejected by Congress. President Trump, through the OCC and FDIC, is ensuring unlawful banking discrimination cannot be waged against legitimate and lawful industries.”
While the rule applies specifically to the US market, similar concerns have been raised within the UK, where members of the trade have reported difficulties in securing and maintaining banking relationships.
UK organisations have previously highlighted cases involving account closures, refusals to open accounts and restrictions on services affecting shooting-related businesses.
Stephen Jolly, chief executive of the Gun Trade Association, said: “We consider this an encouraging development across the Atlantic. The GTA will be initiating conversations on this matter with UK Finance, HM Treasury, the Shadow Treasury team in Westminster and the British Shooting Sports Council. Access to banking services remains an ongoing concern for some parts of the UK shooting trade and this is an issue we will continue to engage on.”
For UK retailers and distributors, the issue is not theoretical. Reliable access to banking services underpins day-to-day operations, from processing payments to managing supplier relationships. Any disruption can have a direct impact on business continuity.
The US decision is therefore likely to be of interest to UK stakeholders, particularly as it signals a more defined regulatory stance on how financial institutions assess risk. Whether similar clarity will emerge in the UK remains to be seen, but the debate around fair access to banking services for lawful industries is unlikely to go away.