National Credit Union Administration (NCUA): Banking Services Can Be Offered to Hemp Businesses

• The NCUA established interim guidelines for banks to follow with hemp businesses.
• The chairman wrote a letter to Sen. Michael Bennet to describe the efforts a month ago.

One of the struggles that hemp businesses continue to be faced with is the lack of banking services. Now, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is issuing updated guidelines, following requests from lawmakers to establish clarity on the matter. With the interim guidance, the authority states that banking services can be offered to hemp businesses, due to the fact that hemp and its derivatives are legal federally.

In a press release, the chairman of the NCUA, Rodney Hood, said,

“Lawful hemp businesses provide exciting new opportunities for rural communities. I believe today’s interim guidance keeps the mission of the nation’s cooperative credit system to serve people who have been overlooked and underserved.”

Hood explained that there’ve been many credit unions that have offered their services to the agriculture industry. He expects that the credit unions will choose to consider in a balanced way if the hemp-related businesses can effectively be served by their work.

Hood wrote in a letter to Sen. Michael Bennet last month that the administration would be working on their guidance, but that the guidance could be changed around the decisions of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). For now, the interim guidance states that the growth of hemp businesses would make it possible to promote economic growth in communities across the country. In this growth, the hemp businesses will ultimately need to have capital and financial services from credit unions, which they permit in the guidance published.

Even though credit unions have the option of offering banking services as they see fit, the NCUA pointed out that there’s a need for these credit unions to comply with both the Anti-Money Laundering requirements and the Bank Secrecy Act. The NCUA pushed for credit unions “to thoughtfully consider” offering their services.