PHOENIX–After Tuesday’s elections, look for an expanding number of credit unions to begin to consider offering financial services to cannabis-related businesses.
In the elections, voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana everywhere it was on the ballot: Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota.
Those four states join 11 other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing cannabis use in some form. In addition, Mississippi voters backed legalizing cannabis for medical use.
As CUToday.info has reported extensively, there are significant income opportunities available to credit unions in serving cannabis business, but much of that income is offset by high compliance-related expenses.
In addition, serving cannabis businesses means an inflow of deposits at exactly the same time many credit unions are already flush with funds.