Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Although the federal prohibition of cannabis legally prevents banks from opening accounts for marijuana-related businesses, a small but slowly increasing number of banks are still taking the chance to support the growing cannabis industry. Despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ promises to crack down on cannabis, the number of banks opening accounts for canna-businesses has actually increased since Donald Trump took office.
A report from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shows that 368 banks and credit unions had active accounts servicing canna-businesses as of this March. That number has increased by around 10 percent since this January, when only 337 banks had cannabis-related accounts. Between February and March, 34 new banks joined the list, marking the single greatest monthly increase seen in the report.
Although the number of banks willing to take the risk to deal with cannabis-related funds is increasing, the majority of banks are still unwilling to handle federally prohibited drug money. Congressmen Matt Gaetz and Darren Soto recently proposed an amendment to a financial bill that would have prevented federal banking agencies from…
