Newsroom
House passes bill to give FIs marijuana banking safe harbor
The House Wednesday passed legislation designed to provide a safe harbor for credit unions and other lenders that serve marijuana-related businesses (MRBs) in states that have legalized the drug. This is the first vote by Congress to do so; Senate Banking Committee leaders have indicated their desire to consider similar legislation.
Prior to advancing the bipartisan SAFE Banking Act, H.R. 1595, to the full chamber, the House Financial Services Committee adopted three amendments to clarify the safe harbor's applicability, extend it to insurers, and require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on the effectiveness of reports on suspicious transactions filed.
While NAFCU has not taken a position on the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana, the association encourages Congress to consider legislative complexities and notes the benefits of a strong safe harbor for financial institutions that wish to serve MRBs. The association also highlights that a number of compliance challenges remain.
At NAFCU's Congressional Caucus earlier this month, the association hosted a panel discussion focused on the regulatory landscape of serving MRBs, consumer trends, and more. A number of lawmakers at Caucus also gave insights into the issue.
Relatedly, federal laws and regulations regarding hemp – which comes from the same plant family as marijuana but has a different chemical makeup and is primarily used for industrial purposes – have recently changed. As a result, the NCUA issued interim guidance for credit unions interested in serving hemp-related businesses.
NAFCU has available a new FAQ document and several other resources on marijuana banking, including a pros and cons document and an extensive issue brief. NAFCU will continue to update these documents as discussions progress on Capitol Hill, and as credit unions raise additional questions.
Share This
Related Resources
Add to Calendar 2024-04-23 14:00:00 2024-04-23 14:00:00 Monitoring the Latest Litigation Risks Credit unions’ operations pose litigation risks, with more of these cases being filed as class action lawsuits. In this Monitoring the Latest Litigation Risks for Credit Unions webinar, you’ll review some of the specific kinds of lawsuits impacting credit unions and what potential claims could be on the horizon. You’ll also examine some options for mitigating risks. Key Takeaways Review the current lawsuit trends. Understand the potential claims risks Explore options for mitigating risks. Register Now $295 Members | $395 Nonmembers(Additional $50 for USB)One registration gives your entire team access to the live webinar and on-demand recording until April 23, 2025Go to the Online Training Center to access the webinar after purchase » Who Should Attend NCCOs NCRMs Compliance and risk titles Education Credits NCRMs will recieve 1.0 CEUs for participating in this webinar NCCOs will recieve 1.0 CEUs for participating in this webinar Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Monitoring the Latest Litigation Risks
Credits: NCCO, NCRM
Webinar
Resiliency In Your Incident Response Plan
Cybersecurity
preferred partner
DefenseStorm
Blog Post
The Bottom Line on Insurance Tracking and Collateral Protection
Strategy
preferred partner
Allied Solutions
Blog Post
Add to Calendar 2024-04-15 09:00:00 2024-04-15 09:00:00 Mergers and Acquisitions: Unifying Two Different Executive Total Compensation and Benefits Programs Listen On: Key Takeaways: [03:50] With the merger of a smaller credit union into a larger one you are really only dealing with integrating staff into the larger credit union. [05:53] When working with a merger of equals we start with a deep dive into the executive compensation and benefits of each organization. [09:09] If your current executive benefits provider doesn’t conduct regular plan evaluations, consider having a plan audit anyway. [13:46] Don’t overpay for these things if you don’t have to. When you have more options available that means the cost is more appropriate. [17:11] It is in a unified organization’s best interest to do tier timelines where we look at your top executives who are critical to the unified organization’s success today and then slowly add in the next levels. Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Mergers and Acquisitions: Unifying Two Different Executive Total Compensation and Benefits Programs
preferred partner
Gallagher
Podcast
Get daily updates.
Subscribe to NAFCU today.