MONTPELIER, Vt. –As Vermont’s retail cannabis market moves closer to becoming fully operational this fall, a credit union that has been serving the industry has announced it is no longer taking on new cannabis businesses.
Vermont State Employees Credit Union, which first announced in 2016 it would explore offering services to cannabis companies, said it is pausing the acceptance of new members from the industry due to a “sudden spike in cannabis accounts,” according to WCAX.
Noting banking services are a “critical aspect” of compliance, James Pepper, chair of the state’s Cannabis Control Board told the news outlet the VSECU news did not surprise him. “I think their exact quote from last July was, ‘If we are talking about 50 to 75, that is doable. If we are talking about 200 to 300, that might be tough for one financial institution to take on that risk.’”
More Than 150 Licenses
The Green Mountain State has currently issued about 160 grow licenses, with WCAX saying state officials are working to determine how many of those are already banking through VSECU and how many other credit union applications will potentially be turned down. VSECU officials did not respond to a call for comments, according to the news outlet.
According to Pepper, there are other options for budding businesses, including Vermont Federal Credit Union, which has now opened its cannabis banking, and New England FCU (which is currently seeking to merge with Vermont State Employees CU). Pepper said the Cannabis Control Board is working with the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation and with the financial institutions themselves to “get them more comfortable with the idea of banking cannabis money,” WCAX reported.
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