Marijuana banking

With a divided Congress in place, policymakers will face challenges in passing major financial legislation this year. But there are still a number of core issues set to be debated.

As 2018 draws to a close, here's one more look at some of the year's most interesting stories and a glance at what 2019 may have in store for credit unions.

Legislators' attempts to reopen the government could hamper credit union advocacy priorities as the new Congress convenes.

A state-backed bank would not be financially feasible because capital requirements would be too high and it likely wouldn’t return profits to the state for at least 30 years, consultants concluded.

As more states permit medical or recreational use, and legal uncertainty persists at the federal level, CUs' decision whether to do business with marijuana firms is trickier than ever.

Hostilities toward the legal U.S. cannabis industry are softening considerably, with signs of further removing cash and digital workarounds from a market that has long been shunned by traditional payment cards.

Banks hoping to make working with the cannabis industry easier saw a positive sign this week when Congress removed the prohibition on a less potent substance.

Royal Bank of Canada's investment-banking division will advise on stock sales and arranging takeovers for companies in the marijuana industry, joining Bank of Montreal's BMO Capital Markets in serving an industry that didn't exist five years ago.

As Congress races to fund the government, a criminal justice reform bill could also include the STATES Act, which would provide safe harbor for credit unions serving the legal marijuana industry.

The financial industry is not expecting movement on a lot of legislation given a divided Congress, but one measure is beginning to attract widespread attention.

Blockchain backers concede the hype is turning off bankers; Mulvaney's CFPB name change could cost industry millions of dollars; the one banking bill Congress might actually pass next term; and more from this week's most-read stories.

The regulations for legal cannabis are slowly loosening, but whether they have loosened enough to support a “normal” online shopping experience in the U.S. is being put to the test by a new mashup of digital ordering and payment tools.

The Anchorage-based institution said its decision to enter the pot banking space was driven partly by public-safety concerns in a cash-based industry.

The financial industry is not expecting movement on a lot of legislation given a divided Congress, but one measure is beginning to attract widespread attention.

The financial industry is not expecting movement on a lot of legislation given a divided Congress, but one measure is beginning to attract widespread attention.

Efforts to create city- or state-owned banks in Los Angeles, Seattle and New Jersey have suffered setbacks of late, but public banking advocates are taking the long view.

Now that states such as Michigan, Utah and Missouri voted in favor of legalization in this year's midterms, legal marijuana is poised to become a growth industry.

A federal prohibition on marijuana has locked U.S. banks out of an industry surging toward $75 billion in sales. Who's catching that money? A small number of local credit unions, and the women who run their operations.

What the Democrats' House takeover means for banks; Synchrony has a lot to lose in fight with Walmart; should industry fear Waters-led banking panel?; and more from this week's most-read stories.

During his time as U.S. attorney general, Jeff Sessions was an outspoken opponent of the legalization of cannabis sales. Now that Sessions has resigned, legal marijuana is poised to become a growth industry.