WASHINGTON–More than 800 banks and credit unions now serve cannabis businesses in some form, which is down slightly from one year earlier, according to new federal data.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released the data after extracting it from suspicious activity reports (SARs) related to marijuana-related businesses.
“This latest batch shows relative stability in the willingness of banks to service cannabis clients even under federal prohibition,” according to Marijuana Moment. “But notably, the portion of SARs identified as “marijuana limited” stands at 80%. That term refers to cannabis businesses that appear to be operating in compliance with state law and meet the agency’s standard for being serviceable under existing federal guidelines, as opposed to “marijuana priority” or ‘marijuana termination,’ which indicate potential violations or account closures.
‘Detailed Approach’
As of the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2024, FinCEN reported that there were 816 banks and credit unions serving cannabis businesses. That slightly down from its peak of 831 financial institutions in the second quarter of that same fiscal year, but it’s significantly higher than during the early years of legalization when the agency started collecting this data, Marijuana Moment reported.
The publication noted FinCEN has taken a much more detailed approach to its cannabis banking reporting in recent years compared to when it first started posting data, now providing insights about the types of SARs it has received and which states they come from.
What State Breakdowns Reveal
“State-by-state breakdowns of the data reveal wide disparities between the number of marijuana-related reports being filed by financial institutions in markets across the country,” Marijuana Moment stated.
“For example, California led the pack with banks and credit unions filing 3,812 cannabis SARs in the quarter ending December 2024. Oklahoma, which has a medical marijuana system that’s allowed a massive proliferation of dispensaries, came in second with 2,735 SARs,” the publication reported. “Colorado, the first state to enact adult-use legalization, had a relatively lower number, with 735 reports filed. Oregon had 424 SARs.”
