The Albuquerque, New Mexico-based U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union announced last week plans to close its cannabis banking arm, the Albuquerque Journal reports. The company said the closure of the Aery Group, which launched in 2019, is due to increased competition among financial services providers as the cannabis industry has grown.
In an interview with the Journal, Michael Moore, president and CEO of U.S. Eagle, said that servicing the cannabis industry is not part of the company’s long-term strategy and that growing the service was “difficult…without going out of state or into other markets.”
“We’re not trying to shut the door permanently at all. Definitely not a ‘no,’ but a time-will-tell approach.” — Moore, to the Journal
Damien Padilla, owner of consulting firm Cannabis Driven Management, told the Journal that there are at least 19 financial services providers in New Mexico now working with cannabis businesses.
Padilla said that the increased competition is “just one of those things that comes with every market.”
The Aery Group was one of the first New Mexico financial institutions to serve the state’s cannabis businesses. The closure is set to take effect November 1.
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