Businesses that don’t touch the plant may falsely assume that they can obtain banking with no issues. Those who work in this sector find that financial institutions have been nearly universally unwilling to knowingly provide bank accounts or services to companies that disclose or are discovered to be engaged -- even tangentially or secondarily -- involved in the legal marijuana industry.

As a result, B2C ancillary professionals and enterprises may opt not to disclose their involvement with licensed marijuana related businesses, or their association with the cannabis industry hoping to avoid detection by the bank depending upon the extent of their public profile in the industry. However, even in these instances, banks under pressure from regulators are taking advantage of rigorous software and detection tools to more effectively detect and identify this unwanted activity.

Affected industries and business include, but aren’t limited to:

• Advocacy and campaigns
• Brick and mortar and online retailers of vapes, dabs, glassware, clothing, non-plant derived merchandise and other smoking accessories
• Data and reporting services
• Directories and information services
• Education
• Greenhouses, lighting, irrigation & cultivation systems
• Medical practitioners
• Printing and publishing
• Soil, nutrients and hydroponics
• Tour operators
• Trade associations
• Trade shows and conferences

Of course, those ancillary providers of goods and services who advertise or disclose their interaction with the industry are at much greater risk of having their accounts closed. Depending upon one’s public profile, it’s likely such operations masking the nature of their business risk the continuing harassment and distraction of having their accounts closed several times a year.

To enjoy a stable business checking account as well as other conventional banking services, it’s necessary to fully disclose the nature of your business to the bank. Fincann can introduce you to local bankers in your state who will welcome your account with full disclosure. Your only cost aside from conventional bank fees is our one-time advisory fee.

Once a transparent bank account is established, you’ll enjoy the full range of commercial services available to all the bank’s business customers without fear of saying the wrong thing and suddenly losing your account.

It’s also not just about obtaining stable banking and/or merchant processing. Disguising the full nature of one’s business inhibits your ability to openly market your goods and services to your customers, often by feeling the necessity of describing your business with less controversial names and hoping your customers make the connection. Frankly operating a cannabis-related business is tough enough without this additional handicap.

Fincann at work: Use cases from our clients

One of our clients is a multi-state hydroponics retailer, having finally tired of being disinvited to bank at one institution after another, sought our assistance in establishing sustainable compliant banking. Although they were enjoying substantial success in their overall business, in order to try to avoid discovery by their bank and merchant processor they felt obliged to avoid all references to cannabis on their website, advertising and in-store promos which unreasonably restrained their ability to engage a large portion of their natural customer base. Plus on numerous occasions, they felt obliged to decline large cash orders from business customers to avoid any ‘red flags’ with their bank.

Fincann was able to resolve all these issues by introducing them to friendly, compliant bankers that welcomed and partnered with them, eliminating the stress of ‘waiting for the next shoe to drop’, as well as releasing the previous marketing restraints so they could publically and transparently engage their business customers via trade shows, in-store promos, educational events and advertising at multiple touch points.

How Fincann helps B2C ancillary businesses obtain compliant merchant processing

Fincann can also provide a variety of compliant electronic payment solutions via U.S.-based, federally-insured banks, including MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover merchant accounts, ACH debit and e-check solutions, plus shopping cart integration, all of which you can use to accept payment from your customers and clients.

Let us put our considerable experience and expertise, including access to the 125+ U.S. financial institutions in our exclusive Cannabis Banking Financial Network™ to work for you to provide the optimal, cost-effective total banking solution. Contact Fincann to learn more.