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In Guidance, DFS Encourages Banks to Serve Medical Marijuana Firms

By Daniel Bethencourt

The New York State Department of Financial Services on Tuesday instructed state-chartered lenders to consider onboarding licensed medical-marijuana firms as clients, six months after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions pledged to enforce federal laws against cannabis. In a 10-page guidance document endorsed by Superintendent Maria Vullo, DFS acknowledged the U.S. Justice Department’s rescinsion of the Cole memo, a 2013 policy adopted under then-President Barack Obama that limited enforcement of federal laws against marijuana in states that have authorized the substance for medicinal or recreational purposes. DFS noted, however, that the four U.S. attorneys based in New York have not followed...

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