Checklist For Financial Institutions
Checklist For Financial Institutions
Is your Financial Institution offering, or considering offering, financial services to cannabis-related businesses (CRB’s)?
Chris Van Dyck, partner at Cogent Law Group, is a former financial regulatory attorney and has been the General Counsel and BSA Officer at a Financial Institution involved in the cannabis banking space for nine years. Please feel free to contact him for further guidance if your financial Institution is interested in learning more about cannabis banking.
Below is a checklist developed by Chris to assist your Financial Institution so that it appropriately manages the risks, and meets the regulatory expectations, of having a CRB program. Click Here to download the checklist.
Cannabis Banking Checklist
- Has your Board of Directors formally approved offering financial services to CRB’s, including the types of financial services offered and those CRB’s it will offer services to?
- Has your Board of Directors obtained and considered a written opinion from external counsel outlining the legal risks and framework associated with providing financial services to CRB’s?
- Does your Financial Institution have policies and procedures that meet the expectations of the 2014 FinCEN Guidance?
- Is your BSA Department appropriately staffed and structured?
- Do your Financial Institution policies and procedures adequately address initial and ongoing due diligence expectations, suspicious activity reporting, and CTR reporting?
- Do your Financial Institution policies and procedures address the type of financial information your CRB’s will be required to provide and the frequency with which this information is to be provided?
- Do your Financial Institution policies and procedures address the related party information your CRB’s will be required to provide?
- Does your Financial Institution have a CRB-specific risk assessment?
- Does your Financial Institution have a CRB strategic plan that includes individual and overall CRB concentration limits and an exit plan?
- Does your Financial Institution have a CRB pricing structure and fee schedule that adequately accounts for the costs of your CRB program?
- Has your Financial Institution invested in compliance software that shows cash flow monitoring, CRB interaction logs, and variances between CRB deposits and financials?
- Does your Financial Institution have adequate cash controls and procedures for handling large cash deposit activity?
- Do your Financial Institution policies and procedures address when elevated CRB SAR filings should be made?
- Do your Financial Institution policies and procedures address when CRB site visits should be conducted?
- Does your Financial Institution provide adequate training to your employees to ensure it maintains a compliant CRB program?
- Is your audit program sufficient to ensure your CRB program remains compliant?