Federal regulators gave banks the go-ahead to serve industrial hemp customers without any enhanced anti-money laundering reporting requirements.
The Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said in guidance that banks would no longer have to file suspicious activity reports just because they conduct transactions or other services for hemp-related businesses.
Banks had been slow to serve industrial hemp-related businesses despite the cousin to marijuana being removed from federal controlled substance scheduling in the 2018 Farm Bill.
There was uncertainty over whether hemp would be subject to the same types of robust reporting requirements as marijuana.
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