Florida’s First Green Bank started serving the state’s medical marijuana industry with much fanfare this year, boasting that it was the only financial institution in the state willing to work with marijuana businesses. “I suspect we’ll have the entire industry by [the fall],” the bank’s founder and chairman Ken LaRoe told the Sun-Sentinel.
In August, the bank was serving six out of seven of Florida’s licensed medical marijuana producers, a decision that stemmed out of its founder’s personal experience. “My wife developed a seizure disorder and she was able to be cured with cannabis,” said LaRoe, who described marijuana as a “miracle drug.”
Miracle or not, First Green Bank is now pulling the plug on its cannabis clients. It’s closing marijuana business accounts ahead of an acquisition by a larger financial institution, reports the Miami Herald. Larger banks are less likely to take on the risk of touching marijuana money. In states that have legalized marijuana, it’s the community banks and credit unions that have been more willing to serve the industry.
Luckily for Florida’s medical marijuana businesses, other financial institutions are apparently stepping up to the plate. “First Green is giving a transition period and several other banks have already stepped up in Florida to fill the need,” Trent Woloveck, president of The Green Solution National, told the Miami Herald.
But those banks are keeping a low profile for now. Even the largest financial institutions in the nation have served marijuana businesses, despite publicly denying that they work with the cannabis industry. Still, the other banks that are stepping in to take First Green’s cannabis clients will help medical marijuana businesses and patients alike.
