By Hilary Bricken, Co-founder Harris Bricken Last week, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), issued new guidance (the “FinCEN Guidance”) for financial institutions working with hemp-related businesses. The FinCEN Guidance centers on due diligence requirements as related to the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). This guidance follows closely on the new National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) […]
Banking
Credit Unions and Hemp: New Federal Guidance is Here!
By Vince Sliwoski, Attorney at Harris Bricken Last week, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) issued new guidance (“Guidance”) for federally-chartered credit unions serving the hemp industry. All of us at Harris Bricken were excited to see the Guidance released: NCUA retained us last fall to advise the government on this project, and we have […]
Medical and Recreational Marijuana: An Overview of the Various Issues Involved in Starting and Operating Marijuana Dispensaries Part 4
This article is the fourth part of a six-part series discussing the legal issues, operational challenges, and regulatory hurdles that marijuana-related businesses (MRBs) frequently encounter. Part 1 discussed the various fire, health, and safety risks that MRBs encounter while growing and cultivating marijuana plants inside large, indoor, commercial spaces. Part 2 discussed the three most […]
Hemp Industry Is Cleared to Do Business With Banks
United States regulators say hemp businesses should not be treated with any more suspicion than other bank customers. The number of banks in the United States willing to lend to hemp producers can be counted on one hand. That is about to change. Federal and state bank regulators announced Tuesday that they were scrapping a […]
Top 6 Growing Pains in California’s Cannabis Marketplace
By Hilary Bricken, Co-Founder, Harris Bricken Every state that’s legalized cannabis for adults 21-and-up has faced that moment or even series of moments that threatened to really derail or seriously stymie market development. California is at that crossroads and has been almost from the outset of the first issuances of cannabis licenses back in January […]
Crapo plans landmark cannabis banking vote
Senate Banking Chairman Mike Crapo says he wants to hold a vote on legislation that would enable banks to serve cannabis-related businesses, in what would be a major victory for the marijuana industry and for lenders eager to enter the space. In an interview with POLITICO, Crapo said he did not support lifting the federal […]
Top 5 Buzzkills Keeping Cannabis Down And Out (And Emerging)
Unfortunately, most of these are here to stay thanks to the Department of Justice and the Controlled Substances Act. By Hillary Bricken, Co-Founder Harris Bricken There’s no question that cannabis remains a rocky, emerging industry even though entire countries and more than 30 U.S. states now have cannabis legalization or “medicalization.” The reasons why though […]
New Legislation Could Solve the Cannabis Industry’s Banking Problem
One of the biggest obstacles that businesses operating in the cannabis industry face is finding a bank that will work with them. Even ancillary marijuana businesses and people and businesses associated with the marijuana industry have banking problems. To date, there isn’t a perfect solution. While some startups are trying to solve those problems, former […]
Banking Evolution
The cannabis industry is evolving rapidly and so should your perception of banking. I recently attended the Second Annual State of the Cannabis Industry Conference, in Massachusetts. The event was organized by the cannabis law practice of Burns & Levinson and by Viridian Capital Advisors, a financial advisory firm dedicated to the cannabis industry, with […]
Is This the Solution to the Marijuana Banking Problem?
There are many aspects of the marijuana banking problem that are a long way from being solved. One of the biggest problems is payment processing – getting money from consumers’ hands to marijuana businesses’ bank accounts. In June of this year, both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee voted to block marijuana […]
