105 National Banks Now Working With Cannabis Related Businesses

According to federal official Jennifer
Shasky Calvery, head of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network, the Obama Administration’s new guidelines on banking with
the cannabis industry are having the desired effect.  Shasky Calvery told The Washington Post that there are now 105 banks and credit unions
working with cannabis related businesses deemed legal under state law.

Because of draconian federal banking laws,
including those enacted around the “War on Terror,” banks have traditionally
been reluctant to do business with domestic cannabis related businesses,
particularly those that handle the plant directly.  That appears to be due to the nationwide and federal
focus on reform. 

Shasky Calvery’s comments are also
significant as they mark the first time that a federal official has formally
announced a concrete number of banks engaged in such activity.  However, she declined to offer any specific
bank by name.

With the advent of recreational sales in
Colorado and Washington State, negative attitudes towards engaging with cannabis
businesses are changing fast—driven in part by senior lawmakers who have
successfully engaged federal officials in needed banking reform efforts.  The Governors of both Washington and Colorado
have explicitly worked together at the federal level on this issue all
year. 

With the changing scheme of cannabis as a
big business venture, it is clear that the federal ban on banking is in its
last days.