Scotiabank and the Royal Bank of Canada say they aren’t providing accounts to companies associated with the marijuana industry, leaving some business owners scrambling to find alternate arrangements.
After a decade-long relationship with Scotiabank (TSX:BNS), Hemp Country owner Nathan MacLellan says he received a letter from the bank late last month stating his account was being cancelled.
The store in Woodstock, Ont., sells marijuana-related items such as pipes and bongs but no actual cannabis, MacLellan says.
“It’s kind of insulting really, especially when legalization is right on the horizon,” he says.
“Nothing in the store that we sell is illegal. Every single variety store sells pipes and bongs nowadays, so why are they singling us out all of a sudden?”
Since then, MacLellan has managed to secure an account with a local credit union, but he says the process was not without headaches. The first credit union he contacted gave him the “same rigmarole” as Scotiabank, he says.
Earlier in August, a fledgling medical marijuana producer said it received a phone call from Scotiabank, advising them that it will no longer be doing business with cannabis-related companies. [Read More at Times Colonist]