Building Communities Through Safe Banking

Last week New Jersey, Montana, Arizona and New Jersey voted to legalize recreational marijuana, while South Dakota approved legalization for both recreational and medical. Only 6 states in the country do not permit any use of marijuana with a handful of states permitting only limited medical use. While the majority of states will be benefitting from additional revenue through licensing and taxes, many of these See more +

Last week New Jersey, Montana, Arizona and New Jersey voted to legalize recreational marijuana, while South Dakota approved legalization for both recreational and medical. Only 6 states in the country do not permit any use of marijuana with a handful of states permitting only limited medical use. While the majority of states will be benefitting from additional revenue through licensing and taxes, many of these now-legal businesses will still not have sufficient access to financial services and basic banking opportunities. Justin Fischer, CEO and Co-Founder of RiskScout, stops by the next episode of Clark Hill’s Credit Eco To Go to discuss the challenges small and community banks continue to have attempting to serve these legal businesses. RiskScout is a platform that streamlines the compliance process in an attempt to level the playing field for community banks. As Justin tells us, challenges also exist in the hemp space, which was legalized at the federal level under the 2018 Farm Bill. Many farmers are turning to hemp as an alternative crop only to be shut out by their local banks, especially community banks, because they do not have the infrastructure to manage the compliance risks. RiskScout provide these smaller entities a chance to compete. Unless the basic function of banks fully utilized, states seeking to expand their cannabis and hemp footprint will only see their efforts go to waste. See less -