A recent report from the U.S. Department of The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shows a sizable increase in the number of banks and credit unions providing financial services to legal marijuana businesses. The numbers might not tell the whole story, however. FinCEN’s latest Marijuana Banking Update, for the …

Recreational marijuana is now legal in a growing number of states, but cash remains the dominant payment method. Now, however, CanPay, a Littleton, Colo.-based payments provider, has developed a digital payment option that allows legal marijuana retailers to directly debit a consumer’s checking account from the point of sale. Typically, …

• Two merchant organizations have filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a U.S. Department of Justice filing that asks the full panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear a 6-year-old case alleging anti-steering rules established by American Express Co. are anti-competitive. A three-judge panel of that court ruled …

• A Colorado State University management professor and a Ph.D. student in finance at the University of Utah co-wrote a blog post saying that the “legal incoherence” in federal policy regarding financial services for legal marijuana businesses is hurting an otherwise fast-growing industry that in Colorado alone generated nearly $1 …

A bill introduced Thursday with bipartisan backing in the U.S. Senate would prevent federal regulators from cracking down on banks that provide financial services to legal marijuana businesses. The bill, similar to one pending in the House of Representatives, aims to rectify the lack of access many recreational and medicinal …

Defending the federal government’s guidance for providing financial services to legal marijuana businesses, a senior U.S. Treasury Department official on Tuesday said more than 100 banks and credit unions are now working with cannabis-industry customers. One consultant who connects banks with marijuana merchants confirms that financial-institution interest in the budding …

The gradual lowering of barriers that have kept legal marijuana merchants outside of the financial mainstream gained momentum Friday in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced new guidelines that signal federal approval for banks to serve legal marijuana …

The smoke seemed to clear a bit this week on the status of electronic payments for Colorado shops selling now-legal recreational marijuana, but the nascent merchant category still remains in what effectively is a legal no man’s land between conflicting state and federal laws. Some 20 states and the District …

Mastercard Inc. reported $6.3 billion in first-quarter revenue, a 10.5% increase from $5.7 billion in the 2023 first quarter. It posted a quarterly net income of $3 billion, up 25% from $2.4 billion a year prior. Executives noted strong consumer spending, cross-border payments volume growth, and new deals across its regions …

Though not as credit and debit card friendly as some industries, the legalized cannabis industry continues to create opportunities for payments companies. Among the latest developments are the release of POSaBIT Systems Corp.’s latest point-of-sale system and a new program from Organic Payment Gateways. Bellevue, Wash.-based POSaBIT says its POSaBIT …