Bos opposed to cancelling coffee shop bank accounts
06/02/2009
Finance Minister Wouter Bos has told parliament that coffee shops which sell cannabis should be able to hold a bank account just like any other business.
THE HAGUE—The Minster made his remarks in response to questions from after Labour Party MPs who were concerned about reports that the Postbank wanted to cancel the accounts of coffeeshop owners.
The trade in cannabis reportedly did not fit the Postbank's policy.
Other banks wanted to follow suit, but the Minister said that coffeeshop owners should be able to hold a bank account just like other Dutch citizens.
Bos said he was concerned that the owners would be forced to resort to criminal behaviour, i.e. illegal banking. The finance minister will meet with the Netherlands Bankers' Association to discuss the issue.
Source
Bos opposed to cancelling coffee shop bank accounts
Banks told to accept cannabis cafe custom
Banks told to accept cannabis cafe custom
06 February 2009
Banks must accept cafes which sell cannabis and marijuana as clients, says finance minister Wouter Bos.
The minister fears that if these businesses, known as coffee shops, are refused bank accounts they could turn to the criminal circuit for financial services, reports Friday’s Volkskrant.
At present all the banks are turning down these cafes as new customers and terminating existing accounts even though they are legitimate businesses, the paper says. Coffee shops are licenced by local authorities and allowed to sell small amounts of marijuana.
Cartel authority
Although Bos cannot force banks to accept coffee shops as customers, he has asked the anti-cartel authority NMa to investigate the situation because it seems that the banks are acting collectively, says the Volkskrant.
ABN Amro bank, which is now nationalised, was the first to cut its relationship with coffee shops some 12 years ago, says the paper. It was followed by the Rabobank. And now that the Postbank is being integrated into ING, it too is refusing to accept them as clients.
Source
06 February 2009
Banks must accept cafes which sell cannabis and marijuana as clients, says finance minister Wouter Bos.
The minister fears that if these businesses, known as coffee shops, are refused bank accounts they could turn to the criminal circuit for financial services, reports Friday’s Volkskrant.
At present all the banks are turning down these cafes as new customers and terminating existing accounts even though they are legitimate businesses, the paper says. Coffee shops are licenced by local authorities and allowed to sell small amounts of marijuana.
Cartel authority
Although Bos cannot force banks to accept coffee shops as customers, he has asked the anti-cartel authority NMa to investigate the situation because it seems that the banks are acting collectively, says the Volkskrant.
ABN Amro bank, which is now nationalised, was the first to cut its relationship with coffee shops some 12 years ago, says the paper. It was followed by the Rabobank. And now that the Postbank is being integrated into ING, it too is refusing to accept them as clients.
Source
Cannabis is The Tree of Life
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Sir Niall of Essex-sire
- Posts: 3106
- Joined: Thu 20th Mar 2008 04:38 pm
Right enough. Unless cannabis use is against the values of the ruling bodies involed in the bank. Which is a viewpoint they are entitled too, no matter how wrong we believe it to be.doobydave wrote:I can't imagine why they would be voluntarily refusing to accept such funds.
Who or what is pressuring them to make this decision, I wonder?
Defeating evil with a thing called love
It's to avoid any moral questioning in high level conversations. "I say, isn't something you own connected to the moral grey area?" It's much easier if you can just say no, so to speak. Once you've got loads of money in the bank your morals come at a much higher price than what they did before ya had the money. The owner of our building and I believe the owner of the Homegrown building both went this way. Motherfuckers.