Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
MBank's president acknowledged that the lender's plans to serve an emerging market may have been a bit overambitious.
Jef Baker confirmed that the Gresham-based bank has pulled back on plans to offer accounts to Colorado marijuana companies, but not for the reasons some have surmised.
"We wanted to try and serve that market because the need is so strong there," Baker told Adam Worcester, a Portland Business Journal freelancer. "We effectively bit off more than we could chew. The scope, size, magnitude and volume of customers was going to be challenging.
"We were inundated with requests. We had to step back and say, 'Wow, are we really ready for this?'"
The Denver Post reported that the retreat was actually "pressed by federal banking regulators who stepped in late last week to tell MBank executives that crossing several states to work with an industry that remains illegal under federal law was simply too risky."
However, Baker said the lender "just can't adequately serve the Colorado market at this time. Our hope is to develop infrastructure and at some point re-enter that market."
The bank's looking at doing just that by the end of the year.
"To go in there and do it correctly would probably require us to have a physical presence there," he said.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Mbank: Capacity, not regulator fear, led lender to abandon Colorado pot plans - Portland Business Journal
Author: Andy Giegerich
Contact: agiegerich@bizjournals.com
Photo Credit: Cathy Cheney
Website: Business News - The Business Journals
Jef Baker confirmed that the Gresham-based bank has pulled back on plans to offer accounts to Colorado marijuana companies, but not for the reasons some have surmised.
"We wanted to try and serve that market because the need is so strong there," Baker told Adam Worcester, a Portland Business Journal freelancer. "We effectively bit off more than we could chew. The scope, size, magnitude and volume of customers was going to be challenging.
"We were inundated with requests. We had to step back and say, 'Wow, are we really ready for this?'"
The Denver Post reported that the retreat was actually "pressed by federal banking regulators who stepped in late last week to tell MBank executives that crossing several states to work with an industry that remains illegal under federal law was simply too risky."
However, Baker said the lender "just can't adequately serve the Colorado market at this time. Our hope is to develop infrastructure and at some point re-enter that market."
The bank's looking at doing just that by the end of the year.
"To go in there and do it correctly would probably require us to have a physical presence there," he said.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Mbank: Capacity, not regulator fear, led lender to abandon Colorado pot plans - Portland Business Journal
Author: Andy Giegerich
Contact: agiegerich@bizjournals.com
Photo Credit: Cathy Cheney
Website: Business News - The Business Journals
