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V O L . X X V N O. X X V I I N OV E M B E R 2 5 , 2 0 1 9 18 B A N K I N G / F I N A N C E "To my knowledge no financial institutions in Maine or nationally have provided loans to cannabis businesses," says Todd Mason, president and CEO of the Maine Credit Union League, which represents the state's 55 credit unions. "In general, anytime a loan is given it is based on the ability of the borrower to repay it. For cannabis businesses, the ability to repay a loan is unfortunately put at risk with the specter of the federal government shutting them down because marijuana is illegal at the national level. As a result, financial institutions have stayed away from lending to canna- bis businesses because of that risk, in addition to other legislative and regulatory hurdles." e situation gets murkier. Silsby posits an employee of a medical dispensary. "at employee gets a W2 for wages," he says. "In the mortgage business, we're not allowed to use that W2 income for qualifications for their personal mortgage, because the income is coming from an illegal activity." He adds, "All of us probably have customers that are in some form or other are using their accounts for this activity. If we become aware of that, we would need to investigate. We would have to deal with that activity and it does mean closing accounts. And because the cash is not bankable, it goes underground." Moving between pockets How much cash might that be? at's difficult to say per company, says Jacques Santucci, founder of Portland-based Nucleus One Consulting, a cannabis advisory firm, and Strimo, a software platform. That's $285,000,000 Returned to Maine Employers Since 1998. "This is our favorite time of the year as it celebrates a lot of hard work by employers and employees who work safely and get those who are injured back to work." — MEMIC President and CEO Michael Bourque MAINE EMPLOYERS TO RECEIVE $ 22 MILLION IN MEMIC DIVIDENDS » C O N T I N U E D F RO M PA G E 1 6 P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Cliff Miller, CEO of Atlantic Cannabis Collective, which plans to grow adult-use cannabis for the wholesale market, expects to cultivate 6,000 to 7,000 pounds a year. F O C U S

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