TUMWATER, Wash.—O Bee Credit Union has begun to serve accounts related to the state’s marijuana industry.
According to MainStreet.com, O Bee CU reported it now has approximately 30 cannabis-related clients who deposit as much as $25,000 weekly. MainStreet.com quoted O Bee VP-Marketing Lee Wojnar as saying, "Credit unions were formed, because certain people were denied banking services. The decision to serve I-502 businesses was in response to our members who, having opened their own legal marijuana businesses in Washington State, had no access to banking services. They had no place to safely deposit their money. They didn't even have a safe way of paying their employees—or paying taxes. Everything was in cash. We are here to serve our members. That's what it came down to."
The credit union said it is following guidelines that the state has established.
"The Washington State Liquor Control Board put together excellent and comprehensive guidelines for working with I-502 accounts," Wojnar told MainStreet.com. "We modeled our own program on their hard work. We thoroughly investigate the state license of each I-502 business before we can determine whether or not we work with a new I-502 business. Fees for these businesses are higher because of the extra time and staff required to serve them."
MainStreet.com said that approximately 105 out of the more than 13,000 financial institutions in the country currently work with the marijuana industry, and of those, most do not promote such activity.
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