Cannabis Shop Owners Still Can't Get a Bank Account — A New Report Shows Why

A Federal Watchdog Just Confirmed What Cannabis Owners Already Knew

If you run a state-legal cannabis business, you've probably already lived through this: a bank account that got closed with no warning, a processor that suddenly stopped taking your deposits, or a loan quote with an interest rate that made no sense compared to what your neighbor's coffee shop paid. A new federal report, released by the Government Accountability Office on September 8, 2026, puts hard numbers behind what cannabis business owners have been saying for years — and it lands right as a bipartisan bill that could actually fix the problem sits, again, in Congress.

The 44-page GAO report found that only about 1,000 of the roughly 9,000 federally insured banks and credit unions in the country — barely 11% — filed a marijuana-related suspicious activity report in 2024, the government's rough proxy for which institutions are willing to touch cannabis money at all. That number climbed steadily from 2015 to 2019, then essentially flatlined. Seven years later, the industry is still locked out of the mainstream banking system at almost the same rate it was when most states hadn't even legalized recreational sales yet.

What "Locked Out" Actually Costs a Small Cannabis Business

The GAO didn't just count banks — it talked to the business owners living with the consequences. Researchers surveyed 48 cannabis business owners across eight focus groups, and the numbers they came back with are stark:

• 43 of the 48 owners surveyed did have some kind of bank account — but described unexpected account closures and fees far above what a typical small business pays.
• Participants in seven of eight focus groups reported paying steep monthly or annual banking fees just to keep an account open. Two businesses said they paid at least $100,000 a year in banking fees alone.
• In seven of eight focus groups, loan interest rates exceeded 15% — compared to the 7.42% to 7.91% range a typical small business loan carries right now.
• Payroll providers pulled out of servicing cannabis businesses in seven of eight focus groups, and some owners said they'd resorted to paying employees in cash.
• Cannabis industry workers reported being personally turned down for mortgages and other consumer credit simply because of where their paycheck came from.

None of this is because federal law actually bars banks from serving cannabis businesses in states where it's legal — the GAO specifically noted it found no case of a financial institution facing civil or criminal penalties solely for banking a marijuana-related business. The barrier is risk aversion: banks cite the cost of Bank Secrecy Act compliance and the uncertainty of federal law as reasons to simply avoid the industry rather than build out the reporting infrastructure required to serve it.

Cash Businesses Are Robbery Targets — This Isn't Hypothetical

The safety consequence of being pushed into an all-cash business model isn't theoretical. Because Visa and Mastercard bar marijuana purchases on their networks, dispensaries that can't get reliable banking end up holding large amounts of cash on-site, paid in cash, counted in cash, and — increasingly — targeted for it. Law enforcement and industry groups in states from Washington to Alabama have documented a rise in smash-and-grab robberies and armed break-ins specifically aimed at cash-heavy dispensaries. "We hear from our friends in Colorado and other states that have largely cash-only businesses how dangerous it is," Scott Latham, president of the Alabama Bankers Association, said as his state stood up its own medical cannabis program. "It's very unsafe."

The Bill That's Supposed to Fix This — Again

The proposed fix has a name cannabis operators have heard many times before: the SAFE Banking Act. The bill would create legal protections allowing banks to serve state-legal cannabis businesses without fear of federal penalties, protect those banks from losing deposit insurance over it, and establish a safe harbor from criminal prosecution for compliant financial institutions. It's not a new idea — the House has actually passed some version of SAFE Banking seven separate times over the years — but it has never made it across the finish line in the Senate.

The latest attempt was reintroduced on June 25, 2026, led by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), with bipartisan cosponsors including Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Representative David Joyce (R-OH) is leading the companion bill in the House. Even the American Bankers Association, representing the institutions that would actually have to do the work of banking this industry, has said it "stands ready to work with Congress to see it signed into law."

The GAO's fresh data gives the bill's supporters something concrete to point to. But the report itself contains a caution for anyone hoping a single new law solves everything: some financial institutions told GAO researchers that a federal safe harbor alone wouldn't change their policies — they'd still need additional regulatory clarity before deciding cannabis banking is worth the compliance overhead. In other words, SAFE Banking passing would remove the biggest legal obstacle, but it might not instantly flood the industry with new banking options.

What Cannabis Business Owners Can Do Right Now

Waiting on Congress isn't a strategy, so here's what's actually working for operators today, based on what the GAO documented and what state-legal cannabis banking specialists recommend:

• Look for cannabis-specific credit unions and community banks. The roughly 1,000 institutions that do serve the industry are disproportionately smaller, state-chartered credit unions that have built out compliance programs specifically for cannabis clients — they're harder to find than a branch of a national bank, but they exist in nearly every legal state.
• Budget for banking as a real line-item cost, not an afterthought. If fees in the $10,000–$100,000-a-year range are common even among businesses that do have accounts, that number needs to show up in your profit and loss statement planning from day one, not get treated as a surprise.
• Get your entity and paperwork airtight before you approach any bank. Cannabis-friendly institutions do extensive due diligence, and a clean LLC formation, a properly registered EIN, and clear state licensing paperwork can be the difference between an account opening in weeks versus months.
• Separate your business and personal banking completely, even if you're currently cash-heavy. A documented business bank account — even a limited one — creates the transaction history you'll need if you ever want to refinance, sell, or qualify for financing as the regulatory picture improves.
• Carry adequate coverage given the elevated robbery risk. Standard business insurance policies don't always account for the realities of holding large cash reserves on-site; it's worth reviewing your policy specifically against that exposure rather than assuming a generic small business policy has you covered.

The Bottom Line

The GAO's report doesn't tell cannabis business owners anything they haven't lived through — closed accounts, six-figure banking fees, double-digit loan rates, and cash sitting in a safe that makes their business a target. What it does is put a federal government stamp on numbers the industry has struggled to prove to skeptical lawmakers. Whether that's enough to finally move SAFE Banking through the Senate after seven House passages is an open question. What isn't open to question is that, for now, the responsibility for managing this risk still sits with individual business owners — which makes getting the banking relationship you do have locked down, documented, and insured more important than ever.

Photo by Budding . on Unsplash