Cannabis And U.S. Financial Services: The Investor And Capital Markets Landscape - The Latest Aite Group Report Finds That The U.S. Regulatory Situation Regarding Cannabis Has Resulted In Major U.S. Firms Effectively Ceding Business To Canada

The U.S. is losing capital markets cannabis business to Canada. The lack of a clear U.S. regulatory framework for cannabis impacts retail investor product access, broker-dealer custody and clearing, corporate banking, underwriting, and asset management. Aite Group’s new report, Cannabis and U.S. Financial Services: The Investor and Capital Markets Landscape, examines the ongoing regulatory progress to allow U.S. financial institutions to conduct cannabis-related capital markets activity. 

“U.S. financial institutions are not engaging in capital markets activity that their Canadian peers can legally participate in,” states Greg O’Gara, senior analyst at Aite Group. “But retail investors continue to show increased interest in cannabis companies. At least 21 firms in the U.S. and Canada have initiated investor research on these stocks,” he explains.

This report is the second of two addressing how the cannabis industry will impact financial institutions and the wealth management business. The first report covered aspects of the regulatory environment, politics, taxes, jobs, and broad industry normalization. This report addresses the current and future impact on wealth management, investor and advisor interest, participating institutions, and the capital markets. The analysis in this report leverages interviews with U.S. industry incumbents conducted in the third quarter of 2019.