4. Bank On The Bud
Despite the billion-dollar growth of the legal cannabis industry and the inevitable riches to come, there is still the continuing conundrum of cannabis companies being denied basic banking and financial services, which would give ganjapreneurs the chance to truly operate their businesses effectively and competitively.
Discussion over the development of a public financial institution should heat up in 2018, especially with recreational sales coming to California. A deep analysis prepared by the California State Treasurer’s Cannabis Banking Working Group weighed the merits and obstacles of a state-backed financial institution that would directly and specifically service the cannabis industry. Naturally, there would be impediments to overcome—such as the state having to provide its own deposit insurances, as a state-run bank would not likely qualify for FDIC insurance.
California has other options as well; it could create a “banker’s bank,” a financial institution that would service smaller banks serving the cannabis industry, or the state could choose to simply rely on armored trucks to handle all major financial transactions. This will surely be a hot topic during the year to come because something has to be done with all that money.
