Cannabis and Hemp Financial Services eSchool

Monday, February 2 • 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET

Troutman Pepper Locke partner Agustin Rodriguez will speak at Americas Credit Union’s upcoming Cannabis and Hemp Financial Services eSchool series. He will serve as a panelist on “Cannabis & Hemp 101 (What is Cannabis/Hemp?)” on Monday, February 2, at 2:00 p.m. ET.

This session will provide a clear, practical overview of the rapidly evolving landscape for cannabis and hemp in the United States. We will distinguish “Cannabis” (a.k.a. “Marijuana”) from “Hemp,” explain how each is treated under federal and state law, and discuss key developments in the history of cannabis and hemp regulation including the 2013 Cole Memorandum, the potential federal rescheduling of cannabis, the 2018 Farm Bill, and the recently amended definition of “Hemp.” We will also highlight recent cases, enforcement actions, and congressional proposals that are shaping the risk environment for financial institutions. This session is designed to provide credit union staff with a common vocabulary and baseline understanding that they can use when evaluating cannabis- and hemp-related transactions.

Tuesday, February 3 • 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET

Troutman Pepper Locke partner Agustin Rodriguez will speak at Americas Credit Union’s upcoming Cannabis and Hemp Financial Services eSchool. He will serve as a panelist on “Lending to Cannabis and Hemp Companies” on Tuesday, February 3, at 2:00 p.m. ET.

This session focuses on the general compliance and risk considerations credit unions face when extending credit to cannabis- and hemp-related businesses. Building on the foundational cannabis/hemp concepts from the first session, we will walk through how Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) obligations—including Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) requirements—apply in this space. We will review the 2014 FinCEN Guidance to financial institutions serving cannabis-related businesses and discuss how it informs risk assessment, monitoring, and documentation for cannabis-related accounts. We will also address how the new federal definition of “Hemp” affects customer due diligence, ongoing monitoring, and credit decisions. This session is designed to help credit union staff understand what questions to ask and how to align lending practices with regulatory expectations.