Pubdate: Wed, 11 Feb 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: Scott Woodham

DOES ALASKA PLAN TO CREATE A STATE BANK TO HANDLE CANNA-BUSINESS FUNDS?

Tristan asks Highly Informed, "Does Alaska have any plans to start or 
allow a state-backed bank to serve the marijuana industry?"

For several reasons, the answer is not right now, but that's far from 
the end of the discussion.

Kevin Anselm, director of Alaska's Division of Banking and Securities 
said via telephone that no, the state of Alaska has made no plans to 
start or allow such a bank. However, she did say that the possibility 
is being discussed and that people have asked her office a similar question.

"People are looking at options," Anselm said.

The options she laid out for creating a state-backed bank are 
somewhat complex, legal herb or not, and since Alaska's path toward 
one is barely a glimmer of a curiosity at this point, let alone a 
plan, I'll spare everyone the deepest ins and outs for now.

The only state to have a state-backed bank, all cannabis industry 
aside, is North Dakota, so when anyone talks state-backed banks, 
that's by default the model. Anselm said that various difficulties in 
regulating such a bank is probably why there aren't more of them in 
the U.S. There are many ways to look at oversight of a state bank, 
for instance. Would it be state revenue officials or a state 
treasurer? Maybe a third-party auditor? In North Dakota, the state 
government is still the regulator of its state bank, but oversight 
isn't done by banking and securities officials, Anselm said.

Credit unions are another option for handling the money generated by 
the cannabis industry that has come up lately, but none have opened 
yet. In Colorado, people are trying to create a credit union that 
would serve the needs of cannabis businesses, but it's been 
problematic so far. Though it's received permission from the state of 
Colorado, it has not secured permission from federal regulators to 
open its doors.

Anselm said that no one has asked her office about creating a credit 
union in Alaska to serve the cannabis industry. But she also said 
that there are two paths to founding a bank or credit union, one 
begins with a state charter the other begins by getting a federal one.

According to Anselm, almost simultaneously with obtaining a charter, 
banking insurance must also be obtained, and that insurance is 
overseen by federal regulators. Federal laws and policies against 
cannabis have posed an obstacle to grass-based banks or credit 
unions, particularly, Anselm said, when it comes to securing deposit 
insurance. Bankers have also balked for other reasons related to 
federal law, according to a New York Times story published this week.

At the end of January, a bank in Oregon, a state where voters 
approved a measure to legalize recreational marijuana, was openly 
accepting deposits from canna-businesses across state lines, the 
Denver Post reported. And then a week later, the bank decided to pull 
back from its plan citing an inability to deal with overwhelming 
demand for services. Industry insiders told the Post that they 
suspect the real reason was a request by federal regulators.

Maybe the federal government will change its policies and make the 
issues of banks and credit unions handling green derived from The 
Green moot, including here in Alaska.

"Federal regulators are talking about it," Anselm said. "Nobody's 
dealing with it in a vacuum."

So, the answer here is a no, but you're not the only curious one, 
Tristan. Stay tuned. Maybe, maybe not.

Have a question about marijuana news or culture in Alaska? Send it to  with "Highly Informed" in the subject line.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom