The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Customers Bank offers services to hemp industry
WYOMISSING >> An expansion into a new business sector was one of the 2019 accomplishments for Wyomissing-based Customers Bank.
In September, the financial institution began providing commercial banking services to permitted hemp a nd hempderived cannabidiol (CBD) companies in Pennsylvania and New York.
Specifically, Customers Bank is offering to provide commercial checking, online and mobile banking, fraud protection, ACH payment, online wire transfer services and business bill pay.
The move puts the company at the forefront of serving an industry that is forecast to generate $15 billion globally by 2026, according to Larry Snow, senior vice president, commercial deposit services for Customers Bank.
“This is not just an opportunity to offer banking to farmers and processors, but it is an industry that means jobs. It will be generating a lot of money into the economy,” he said in September.
The growth of the business sector was made possible with the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill — which changed the legal status of industrial hemp — removing it from regulation under the Controlled Substance Act.
Industrial hemp and marijuana are different varieties of the same species of plant, Cannabis sativa, according to the
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture website. Marijuana is cultivated because of its production of the psychoactive plant chemical delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.
Industrial hemp is cultivated for fiber, seed and other purposes and can be used to produce CBD oil, paper, food, clothing, textiles, biofuels and construction materials. Federal and
And while he could not provide specific numbers, Snow said “numerous” clients have signed on with Customers Bank, including: growers, processors, extractors, packagers and retailers.