Banking Cannabis in Today’s Environment

As more states and municipalities legalize marijuana for medical and recreational use, legitimate businesses in this sector seek financial services.

NBC recently reported that the legal marijuana industry amassed $10.4 billion in revenue in the United States in 2018. Revenue is expected to reach $16 billion this year and will continue to grow. As this industry booms, cannabis business owners need to find places to store all that money and have an increasing need for banking support. Your institution is well-positioned to reap the profitable rewards by adding these valuable customers to your portfolio.

Marijuana-Related Businesses (MRBs) are now legal in many states. You need to understand state and local laws and cannabis regulations, in addition to federal guidelines to serve this industry. Companies are looking for community banks and credit unions that understand the landscape and will protect their financial interests.

This webinar will inform executives and compliance professionals at financial institutions that aspire to serve the marijuana industry. Unlike general sessions that offer a vague overview of the business of marijuana, this webinar will focus specifically on the current state of marijuana regulations and best practices for banking cannabis that impact banking today.

Our subject matter experts and former bankers, Robert Casares, CAMS, and Tom Fleming, CAMS, will discuss the current state of marijuana regulations and best practices for banking cannabis. They will share resources to address many questions you may have about banking MRBs. For example, they will cover the Cole Memorandum, Jeff Sessions’ rescission of that guidance, FinCEN’s guidelines on serving the industry, potential legislation, examination procedures, and strategies for remaining compliant.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

You will learn answers to the following questions:

• How do the conflicts between federal, state, and local cannabis laws affect banking?
• What financial services do marijuana businesses commonly need?
• What are the specific risks of banking cannabis?
• What regulations must your institution follow?
• Should your institution apply guidance from the Cole Memorandum?
• What are the FinCEN guidelines for serving the marijuana industry?
• What are the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) expectations for financial institutions that provide services to marijuana-related businesses?
• What are the meanings of the three key terms that FinCEN suggests be used when filing a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR)? When should you use each of these?
  • Marijuana Limited
  • Marijuana Priority
  • Marijuana Termination
• How are related businesses, such as manufacturers of hemp products and hydroponic equipment, affected by banking regulations?
• What potential legislation related to banking cannabis are lawmakers considering?

YOUR CONFERENCE LEADERS

Your conference leaders for “Banking Cannabis in Today’s Environment” are Robert Casares, CAMS, and Tom Fleming, CAMS. Mr. Casares, president at SentryNet LLC provides financial crime risk management consulting services to financial institutions nationwide. He’s a highly accomplished Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) with a comprehensive background in diverse areas of fraud detection, compliance, banking, check fraud, BSA/AML, wire fraud, ACH, and credit/debit card fraud. Throughout his career, Mr. Casares has served as director of a debit card fraud division and corporate fraud officer for a large community bank. He’s a subject matter expert in various areas of financial crime risk management facilitating fraud training for law enforcement and financial institutions aiding them in recognizing new fraud trends and schemes.

Tom Fleming has over 48 years’ experience in both the financial services industry and Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance. Mr. Fleming is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and established Tom Fleming & Associates, LLC, BSA/AML Compliance Consultants in 2013. Most recently he was the assistant director for the Office of Compliance at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Mr. Fleming was recognized as an expert and authoritative speaker on BSA/AML issues and has spoken extensively on these matters to audiences throughout the U.S. and abroad over the last 20 years.