NCUA renews call for marijuana banking legislation

Calling current policy unsafe, unjust and shortsighted, National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) board member Rodney E. Hood on Thursday appealed to Congress to immediately enact marijuana banking legislation.

“Here we have a rising industry that is growing and will only continue to grow,” Hood said, according to the text of his speech to the Emerging Markets Coalition, an advocacy and educational group. “And yet the basic commercial banking infrastructure needed to provide financial services to this rapidly growing industry is virtually non-existent.”

Where Regulations Currently Stand

Financial institutions that provide banking services to marijuana-related businesses open themselves up to sanctions from regulators because marijuana has not been legalized on the federal level. That remains the case even in states where cannabis has been legalized.

 

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