MONTEGO BAY, St James — Audley Shaw has welcomed news of the passage of the SAFE Banking Act in the United States, which could lay the foundation for addressing correspondent banking issues that remain a major challenge for legal cannabis producers.

“It is of significance...the passage yesterday (Wednesday) in the United States of the Safe Banking Act,” the minister of industry, commerce, agriculture and fisheries declared yesterday.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives in the United States passed a measure opening the banking sector to sellers of cannabis, who have struggled to safeguard their earnings from the booming marijuana industry.

For his part, director of the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA), Delano Seiveright, said the successful passage of the SAFE Banking Act in the US House of Representatives, which seeks to amend federal law so that banks and other financial institutions can work directly with state-legal cannabis businesses, signals the possible game changer in the global cannabis market.

However, he was quick to add that it “is still early days”.

“It really is a huge development, as the issue of lack of access to banking for legal cannabis businesses represents a juggernaut for many in the legal industry globally, and particularly in Jamaica where our legal cannabis industry is literally being stifled, limiting growth of the sector, 'down pressing' job creation and restricting agriculture development in many rural areas, and consequently inhibiting the development of rural communities,” Seiveright said.

Seiveright and Shaw were speaking at the opening ceremony of the three-day CanEx Jamaica — Business Conference & Expo at Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James yesterday.

The Bill clarifies that proceeds from legitimate cannabis businesses would not be considered illegal, and directs federal regulators to write up rules for how they would supervise such banking activity.

Shaw pointed out that he has called on Caribbean Community partners to work with Jamaica in lobbying Uncle Sam “to lead the way toward legitimising licensed cannabis growers and processors in its correspondent banking relationships with US Banks”.

“I have had several meetings with investors and prospective investors who lament the difficulty of getting money into the country to conduct legal and legitimate business within the sector — all this while other countries are busy leveraging the global demand for cannabis,” Shaw noted.

The minister said the refusal to bank entities within the sector forces retailers to engage in mostly cash transactions to facilitate business.

“This poses not only a danger to business operators but also stifles business linkages, as associated companies also refuse to engage with cannabis businesses to avoid conflict in their relationships with their respective banks.

“We are therefore keeping a close watch on the progress of The Secure And Fair Enforcement Banking Act, more popularly referred to as the SAFE Banking Act in the US Congress,” Shaw said.

The Bill must be approved by the Senate then signed by President Donald Trump before it can become law.

Seiveright, who is also senior advisor/strategist for tourism and board director of JAMPRO, Jamaica's trade and investment agency, noted that the country remains at the forefront of the region on cannabis policy and reform.

“It was around 2016 that the board of CLA started taking applications, thereafter granting the first set of licences in late 2017. Now we have 55 licences granted, spanning cultivator, retail, processing, and research and development. No other country in the region has achieved this much...” Seiveright noted.

The annual CanEx Jamaica — Business Conference and Expo as a business-to-business event that brings together cannabis industry professionals from across the world.