Peter Su from Green Check Verified.

Peter Su has 20+ years of banking experience under his belt with stops at HSBC, Signature Bank, Dime and East West Bank. He has grown a de novo cannabis banking program from the ground up, as well as joined a developed cannabis banking program with an eye to go national. He is currently on the Banking and Financial Services committee of the NCIA, and chairs the B&FS committee for the NYCCIA. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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the show today, this dude is he might as well
come with a vault on him because he's such a banker, right,
I mean I thought he was gonna come in like
a banker suit and everything else. He flies in from

(01:24):
the windy city of good in New York. Yeah, and
and the jet that he was on had all these
like you know, secured everything, because you know that's how
he is. Peter Sue from Green Check Verified. It's funny.
When I first seen green Check Verified, I'm like, does
that mean he's verified? Like on I G what is
green Check Verified? Well, Peter Seu has twenty plus years

(01:46):
We're gonna find out exactly what it is, but twenty
plus years of banking experience under his belt. Now he
stops at h s b C. Right, what is HSBC?
First off, Peter, Well, it technically stands for Hong Kong
Shot Banking Corporation, but they've long since it's just an acronym.
It's kind of silly. Well, there you go. And then
Signature Bank, Dime and East West Bank have heard of

(02:08):
those ones. He has grown a de novo cannabis banking
what's denavo donovo? Excuse me? Okay, so a new cannabis
banking program from the ground up, as well as joined
the developed cannabis banking program with an eye to go national.
I can't wait to pick his brain about everything and

(02:29):
what they're doing over there. He is currently on the
Banking and Financial Service Committee of the n c i
A and chairs the b an f S Committee for
the n y c c i A, which is New
York City cannabis industry. Still see and and if we're
gonna get all into this because he is connected with
everybody out there in New York and doing this. Green

(02:49):
Check Verified is the leading provider of cannabis banking solutions
and expert advisory services for financial institutions. Now, first off,
welcome to the show. Brother, Yes, thank you, give it
up for this guy. Thank you, thank you. And you
have so many accolades. Yes, okay, there you go. You're good. Okay,

(03:11):
now you got your applause. You have so many and
the website, you guys, is green check verified dot com.
You can go see that. But you've been in banking
for over twenty years. First off, how do you get
in banking? Talk to me about this scenario, and then
we'll get into cannabis banking, because obviously before he wasn't
baking like you do you as a wee little boy. Yeah,
where you come from? Where where did you grow up?

(03:32):
I'm originals from Taiwan. I'm an immigrant, no way, Taiwanese. Yes, yes,
I came here when I was about nine years old.
I grew up in New York e s L Yes, absolutely,
no way. I don't even call it that anymore. Apparently,
why not? You are you kidding me? My mom was
the s L dog. That's what I like was I
prided myself on. It's not a correct term anymore. I

(03:53):
didn't even speak Spanish and I ended up in that
class speaking It's that good Christopher, right, Yes, that say,
you're like, what what do I What do you mean?
Where go? What are I gonna do? And for those
who don't know, ees L as English as a second language.
So actually, when I was here, so back then in

(04:13):
the eighties, they used to call that parachute baby. Parachute
baby from Taiwanese or just taiwan okay as opposed, it's
the reverse of the anchor baby. The anchor baby keeps
you here. The parachute baby you drop off. So you
give us the story. What happened? How did you like
literally get dropped off? Is that true? Or how did
you get fairly literally? So I grew up on my own,

(04:34):
just just just just kids. Just the siblings met me
and three siblings. So your siblings raised you. So you know,
you go to poor when that happens. Right, So your
parents were like in Taiwan, going, we're shipping you to America. Well,
so I was nine, I'm the youngest, um, you know,
my sister's five years. That's a memorable age though. That's hardcore, hardcore,
but you know, keep in mind back then that was

(04:56):
relatively nor do you remember, and you didn't speak English,
no man, just you have no accent. Very well done,
thank you. It's very hard at it. Actually I call
it a cell out. I don't think about well done.
I think you're horrible for that. But whatever, you're all
well done. Yeah exactly. I'm like you let me hear
your accent when you speak English. I don't know when
you speak Taiwanese. Yeah, not English. We've already heard it.

(05:18):
Speak English with your Taiwanese accents. That's what I'm trying to.
You know, oddly enough that I can't. I can't can't remember.
It might be a mental block. I do accents pretty well,
but I don't do what Chinese? Which one do you have? Um? Italian?
Probably from New York like cartoon voices? I get one?
How about like Mickey Mouse? Okay, yeah for sure? Say
would you like to come in summer? Close? You would? Right? Wow?

(05:44):
Look at you, Peter Shoe, Hey you're here as well.
Go to Disneyland. You're here in Orange count have anymore?
What would your guy name of fun? Um? What? Donald dude?
I need you to do a Cannabis Talk one oh

(06:06):
one and Donald Duck style. You're listening to Cannabis Talk
one oh one. So we're talking about banking, right, we're
gonna get there now. But now now that we know
how clever you are, this is more entertaining than banking.
It's one of my certification and people people love to
know who they're dealing with, you know. Yeah, we got
to know. So if they call you and your green
Check verified, what they want to want to talk to
the Donald duck guy. Actually, this this is gonna be

(06:27):
a surprise from my coworkers. I don't know if they're
of course they've never heard it. Yeah, well they should
watch it, you know. I know what I mean is
that they're like horror or they're like, we said the
right guy out. Don't think about them. You know what,
this is who you are. Brother. You were dropped off
as a young kid and you and you learned all
these things, and you learned all these dialects and being
able to because we can't I mean, I can't even

(06:49):
here exactly you're representing that I'm the parachute kid from
Green Check. So nine years old, you your parents sent you.
Do you remember the conversation with your mom and dad
like like, okay, son, you're gonna go to America. Where
did you like first get sent to? Like was it
New York? Right away? Yeah? Yeah? Yeah? So I grew
up in Flushing, which which is you know, a heavily

(07:12):
Asian neighborhood. Um, you know normally what happens is, um
you typically have an established family member there. Uh, and
so you're sending them to live with their aunt and
or something like that. That didn't happen for me, but
but that is the norm. So socio economically speaking, that
that that is a particular set. So you generally have

(07:32):
someone that's there. So so it's kind of the reverse, right,
you have an anchor family member, you go there, you
stay with them. So look, it's like any immigrant. It's
like an immigrant, right, Like you're looking for so many
better for yourself, your kids. Well, if you find I mean,
if you have family, it's it's just like, yeah, bring
him in, bring him in because they land and then
hopefully establish yourself and go. But you guys in this
situation didn't have that, correct, So so how does that look?

(07:53):
I mean, you know, what where did you just have
an address? Or so your what were your parents doing
at that time and age? You know, well, they came
with us original but then they left, they went back
and they got you here and got you they co
signed for a place, and I think a proper parachuting terms,
that's called a tandem jump. Right, No, but that happens

(08:14):
a lot. Ironically. My last haircut by was a guy
named Ant two weeks ago of that and he was
Asian dissent. He came and when he came, all he
had was an address, but guess what, he didn't have
it written down. He had to memorize it because he's
where was he from? Vietnam? And he goes the Vietnamese government.
If you had the address, they'd be like, you're not

(08:35):
going do you know that? You gotta stay here? So
he had to just go off memory and he got
dropped off. And when he came out here, he just
went off the memory and found his sister once again,
family member. It's just crazy when you look at the
cultures like that. They so Peter, you got here at
nine and you stayed with your sister brother who was

(08:55):
you don't just just grew up in uh well frankly
illegal basement of apartments. Um went to school like a
normal kid. I guess, well, that's cool. And then you
went to college where Stony Brook? Stony Brook? And how
did you get them? From there? You got your degree?
What's your degree? In psychology? Nice? So you get into

(09:15):
banking at an early age. You got twenty plus years
is right out of college? You got into banking. Actually,
I joined the army first, that's right, I've seen that
on your Linkedlin thank you for your service. By the way,
it's a great picture of you, both of you on
LinkedIn or wherever. I've seen that military picture of you
walking through somewhere. Yeah, you see, that's a that's that's
my version of a humble brag, right because you know,
some people like splash US army or whatever on the page.

(09:36):
I do it subtly. Yeah, oh yeah, it just shows
you walking. I didn't know if it was a halloween
costume though, I didn't know what you were doing. But
I'm like, most people don't do that. Yeah, you see
the rightful you know. Yeah, it's cool, it's good. It
looks it makes you look taller. Actually in that picture,
you know, I mean this chair, so does that chair
right exactly? Aren't touching the ground. But but so military,

(09:56):
how how much did you serve? What you do? I
did what's called the standards six and two, so six
years active, two years reserve. Belue it or not. I
was aviation, um turban engines, so I fixed turban engines. Wow,
so you're really playing truthfully, that would be a really
high paying job. It sounds like what happened to that, right,
Like you go back, he might be doing it now
shoot on the sidehouse. Yeah, I'm glad you said that.

(10:18):
That's exactly what I thought, right. I thought, well, I
don't want to I don't want to have like, um,
I want to real I don't know, learn something right
that I can turn into a career into a job.
And I thought, you know, turban engine mechanic, that sounds cool, right, um,
And it kind of just didn't happened. I started working
at a bank, uh entry level what they call platform, um,

(10:39):
you know, opening personal accounts and stuff like that, and
kind of work my way up, moved up to the
various ranks private banking, fund banking, middle market things like that.
So how many years twenty so you really worked your
way Yeah. You'r a VP now right with with green check.
I'm a senior person, senior vice president, senior VP, Joe.

(11:00):
If you're gonna say VP, you better ad the senior
in front of it. Yeah, because the other guy he
didn't have that, you know. I mean, well, there's a
lot of vps around Goldie, you know what I'm saying.
But there's one senior or a couple of seniors in
the different realms. But you know what I agree with
that that's that's something that could be reckoned with. When
we come back, we're gonna take a break real quick.
And I want to know now more a what green
Check does in your words. And I really want to

(11:22):
break down all these acronyms that you have on your
LinkedIn because twenty three years of experience A C, B, T,
C P T and comp. I feel like I'm reading
a Compton Gangbanger science over here. I have a short
last name exactly. It's getting to talk one. I want
Peter Sue with us from Green Check. Verified will be
right back after this break. He did. Wow, he's right tack.

(11:44):
He's kind of just talk one oh one. Welcome back
to Cannibal's Talk one oh one. You guys. We have
the first ever Cannabi's Friendly Celebrity Golf Classic Charity Events
attached to the Gridiron Grates hosted by Jim McMahon at

(12:05):
the Anthem Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, February tenth. Come
out and play with some of the biggest celebrities in
the game right there at one of the biggest events
of the year. Joined revnet Fair Child Events and of
course Cannabis Talk one on one out there. For more information,
go to our website Cannabis Talk one on one dot com. Dude,
there's like fifty Hall of Famers or something crazy. So

(12:26):
it's gonna be awesome to hold me to that. But
I mean, like Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice coming out, the
Gronkalski's coming out, he's not golf and here he's not
great golfer. Jim McMahon obviously culturly Iron Brown having written written,
I mean, there's just so many beautiful NFL players. It's
gonna be a great event. Yeah, I'm looking forward to

(12:48):
it as well. Eric Dickerson, I mean, it's just the
list just goes all. Eric Dickerson and I have golf before,
and I learned a game from him called Yes Boss.
And uh, it's funny. Did I ever tell you that? Oh? Yeah,
So yes Boss goes like this. Peter, you'll love this.
I don't know if you're a golfer, but say all
three of us are playing, okay, and what happens is

(13:08):
is we play for the whole called yes Boss. Whoever
wins the whole is the boss. And anything I say,
you have to say yes Boss. The best part about
this game is when the cart girl pulls up and
you get to say something ridiculous like hey, do you
like wearing the g string that you're wearing right now? Yes, boss,
he's something ridiculous for whatever. And of course if you

(13:32):
don't do it, you gotta buy drinks, you gotta buy food,
whatever it is, because right you gotta puss out. But
my point is you get the mouths on some of
these guys, including myself, and the crazy things we can
come up with, and it's becomes a fun game. So
I can't wait to play a little yes Boss with
So when you see how Dickerson go, Hey man, when
you play some yes Boss boss, Yeah, yeah, well you

(13:53):
better not. He's a good player, yea. I will definitely
be say yes Boss. I was. I was able to
compete I with the US a few times when I
played with them, so you know, I won a couple holes.
You know, me and my golf game, I'm pretty good.
Peter Sue green check verified, Uh give us a breakdown
now that we know who you are, that you were
brought in by a stork to America and uh what,

(14:14):
by the way, thanks for your vulnerability and telling us
that story. That's that's really amazing. It's uh, it's impressive.
It's just impressive because you know you've done so well
for yourself and working with this company and being a
senior VP. What is green check Verified exactly? Sure? Well,
so green Check works with a hundred twenty six I
believe the current number banks and Credit Union all of

(14:34):
the country. We implement scale manage their cannabis banking program.
We essentially become the backbone at their entire cannabis banking program.
Um anecdotally, hundred twenty six makes us roughly half of
the market as it currently exists. So we are the
largest such company doing this particular work. And when you
say this particular work, because people that are in the

(14:56):
cannabis game understand and think that it is federally legal,
I can't get a bank account, I can't do this
explain and I have some knowledge of what I see
how this would work. Because you guys are then the
entity that is doing the banking, not quote unquote Wells
Fargo not quote unquote Chase. Pick the bank that you
want to use, you know, and throw that name in there.

(15:17):
But Green Check Verified is then the entity that's quote
unquote the bank. Correct. No, No, Actually, to some extent
that's the beauty. But we do, which is that you're banking.
Say you were banking with us, your banking is critical normal.
So wherever you're banking now, we're empowering their cannabis banking programs.
You log into their website, you call their banker. Everything

(15:38):
works fine. So if your bank happens to be Wells,
which you know it's probably not definitely not. Yeah. Well,
you know what's funny is I've had clients that are
with wills. I've had a dispensary in Santa Cruz and
could not believe that I turned in paperwork that had
that Wells Fargo you know check because I was doing

(15:59):
processing when I met Blue, and I've had to deal
with a lot of things like this. Peter, this is
the only reason you're here because he's one he thinks
you can actually get him some work for processing. No,
he just bank account want to get well. Not only that,
I think it's important for us to have guys like
you on here because people need to know where they

(16:20):
can get banking from and people need to know how
they can get it. There's nothing I can do for you,
for I don't make no nothing on it, you know,
I mean, like there's nothing I'm gonna get off it.
But there's a lot of people out there that have
no clue on how to do this, and they're still
doing the tire Company, you know what I mean, Like
there's a lot of bootleg ways to do this game,
the tire Company, you know talking about Blue I mean,

(16:41):
you know a lot of people know Peter how to
do the game if you're in the game, but the
right way to do it. It would be like if
I have Cannabis Talk one oh one, I have a
Cannabis Talk one oh one. What's my name of my company? Bank?
It's not a fake one. All the possibilities that you
could have chose, you chose tire company, Like, oh, because
I've got can we dissect a little because you know why?

(17:02):
I know clients that use their tire company as the
as the processing front for their cannabis company for a
delivery service. Like look at it, folks, when you buy something,
always look at what the company is that you're buying
it from. Sometimes that he'll notice it's a little different
than where you went to. I mean, to be fair,
in the early days that that that's exactly the dynamic, right, like, um,

(17:23):
you either lied or you didn't get banking, you know.
So yeah, people used to make up all kinds of
names or have multi layers. You know, we're not really
a cannabis company. Were actually a management company, marketing company,
t shirt company. You picked them, picked the front. Well,
here's the thing is that I personally have been kicked
out of like every bank you know, with with corporations

(17:45):
and not even touching the plants and just googling his name,
and so I don't even know how they catch on famous.
It's it's funny, but I don't know how they catch
onto you. I guess that's why Christopher, Right, and then
you look can or whatever's the time to go look
that up underwriters and yeah, and then it's not even
true how they know. But but here's the word part.

(18:09):
It's not even true, I know, and you get like, well,
it's true that we're in the industry, and it's true
that we don't touch the plant, wouldn't sell anything. Yeah, no,
I know, and I just don't get it, like for
for so many years, I think it's lucy enough, but
I want to say, but just not for like wells
far ago though, um maybe you know again, I think
that dynamic is changing and changing fast right like uh

(18:29):
as recently as I don't know to three years ago. Yeah,
like like um so, So Finston's Financial Crimes Sufforcement Network,
which is a function of the Treasury, they keep a
statistic on like how many banks are banking cannabis and
their numbers. Most people believe their numbers way off. But
but but let's go with their numbers, right, Like, there
was a huge spike in the last several years. You know,
it goes from like a few hundred, so like you know,

(18:51):
three four hundred, now they're saying up to seven fifty five.
That's almost yeah. And now again most people think that
number is way too high. We think it's like two
fifty or so. And we can get into why that
that stat might be. Well, they may they may be
considering the banks. They might have a float for the
considered banks that don't know well, so you know what

(19:14):
I'm saying. So so they based it off of something
called STARS Suspicious Activity Report, So I believe it or not,
there's actually a specific STAR. So marimuana limited marijuana priority
and terminations are um so if you are a bank
of Credit Union and you suspect, which is kind of
you know, I mean, you know, um, if you suspect
as marijuana related activity, you file this report. So what

(19:37):
defense and does is if you are a financial institution
and you're filing continuous stars on say cannabis talk one
on one, you are now counted as part of that statistic.
But as you can see in the context that flag
you to all of them, no just just one bank.
So they don't get to share information right well they
do actually because there's the stars go essentially so the

(19:59):
next someone flies, they go, yeah, he just got flag
jails flag him here too. Yeah, so I mean credit something.
All of those reports actually is the main reason like
how they catch people, know, you know, like uh years
ago when when Elliott Spitzer, New York governor, was caught
with like you know, um something, Um, it was because

(20:19):
he's identified as a PEP politically exposed person. So they
keep they keep all those reports. I love now you
just put out three right now that are like great,
So it's your point, you're a little off, But that's
exactly why that statistic is off. Because say you're say
you you're a bank files a star and you guys

(20:41):
right on the cannabis talk one on one. Now you're
now you're part of that statistic. You're part of that
seven fifty five. But is this a cannabis company? Right,
So in the context of what we're talking about, no, right,
like that bank in fact may say no, we won't
bank a dispensary, we won't bank and grow. We're okay
with this because this is a this is a media company. Yeah,
we're we're CT one on one Inc. As a company,

(21:03):
and it's a media company. Literally, but when they looked
at it, we got kicked out. What was the U
S Bank? We're at us? I mean, I mean personally
with with the education platform, the cannabis education platform, and
this one. I've been kicked out of Chase, uh US Bank,
US Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America never never flagged
me uh and a credit union, you know, and it

(21:25):
sucks because, like I said, I'm not an you know,
it's it's crazy. And then you asked, here's the worst part, Peter,
tell me why when you asked the bank? Can you
just tell me why? Yeah? What is he not allowed
to rule there? Like? What do you mean you can't
tell me rule, like like a cop pulls me over,

(21:46):
I'm told I'm speeding, like a cop does thatthing. I
know what I did, Like I know where I got
the ticket? Like why did you kick me out? Yeah?
You are if that proscribed from disclosing the filing of
the star, disclosing why the stars were being recorded, etcetera, etcetera.
If I were still working at a bank, I wouldn't
talk about this. Sorry. Really, yeah, that's it's funny because

(22:07):
I've never heard of it. And then the question is
can I write them a letter? Do I have any
rights to get that information? If I write them a letter,
can find out what it is. No, they're not obligated
to bank you. But know so they just said no,
thank you, will pass and move on. And once you
get kicked out of the bank, there's no way of
finding out the reason. Howl. Is there a loophole to
because I'm still curious, Like I really want to know
why we got kicked out? Oh yeah, like I really

(22:29):
want you because I know we didn't We're not doing anything,
We're not selling it, So give me the reason at
least we Maybe it's because they googled him. They are
Mark and Craig depart because they got kicked out first exactly.
I think it out a week before and they were
crying about it. And then like two weeks later or
three weeks later, we got kicked out because they were
attached to our account as well. So but and they're

(22:50):
just attorneys though though that did speak on cannabis. So
I mean it's like we're attorneys guys, you know. Well,
you know, I want to say that dynamic is changing
and again changing asked. But I think just very recently,
I was trying. I'm a treasurer of the Asian Cannabis
round Table. Um, so what is that not for profit
networking Asians and cannabis? Right, Like, it's not it's like

(23:11):
an education platform. Um, I had to open an account,
you know, I had to open an account. I know
all the banks doing this, you know. I went through
four choices before I finally got someone open my account
for me. So and you're like, guys, I work here, yeah,
you know, not to get whatever. But I'm like Peter
soon Man, right, I'm a senior VP. Yeah. But if

(23:35):
you weren't, if you weren't um, you know, up front
with them, Yeah, then then you could have opened any bank, right,
but then well, it's called Asian Cannabis round Table. It's
it's not a dint want we wanted to be. Yeah,
and I love that, dude. I've had clients to that
want to be so straight up like that too, And
you're like, no, with green check verified, can you be

(23:58):
that straight up to so I can have Joe and
Blues cannabis dispensary. We have a ton of accounts that
are that are named you know, cannabises. We dad, yeah, absolutely,
and I'll tell you. You know, Bunk of America, bank
of I mean b A n C. Yeah, bunk, Bunk
of California, bunk yea of California. Is that how they

(24:20):
say bunk? I just call it bank. I think it is,
but it's not. It's I like that you're calling a bunk.
But that's the first time I've heard it. Well, they
actually Craig over there, actually, you know, knows exactly what
we're doing, right, I think, yeah, you know, Craig, he's
you know, hey, Peter, I'm gonna tell you right now,
Craig has been our guy. Like Craig, it reminds me

(24:41):
of you wish like we just gotta be up front,
and that's how we want to be to like with
our banks and our accounts. Like dude, we want to
be honest about everything as well, because we're not doing
anything wrong and I'm funnier than a lot. So do
you guys do then? What what Peter is doing it?
Or not? What with Peter? And what you guys are
doing at Green check verified? Similar to what Monk of California?
Why are you saying bok? Now? I just said, I

(25:02):
just it's not the bunk? Or how do you say it?
Do you even know? Is that Bank of California? But
doesn't it sound like the A n C. I think
you know the bunk? Now? You got me thinking I'm
gonna call it bunk all the time, you bastard. I
can't believe I got like bo. It looks like can
we call yeah? What do you mean? I'll call him?

(25:25):
Does he know you too? I'm gonna I'm gonna ask
him right now if he knows you. This is gonna
be funny because Craig will be still this right after
this break, it's cannabis talk one on one. Will be
right back, Yes, you'll be right back to cannabis talk
one A one. Welcome back to Cannabis Talk the Life

(25:48):
you craive. You guys rise a bunk ordinarily weekend plans
with Elevation Nations membership. This thing is so amazing. You'll
gain access to exclusive events, entertainment, adventure in wellness experience,
and you could smoke cannabis in a room if you choose.
Check out the website Elevation Nations dot com and learn

(26:08):
a whole lot more. It's so funny, Peter, because you
said Carl Craig, and you know what, We're gonna Car
Craig right now and put it to the test. I
always like doing things like this random to see. Probably not,
but you know what it sounds like he is though.
I feel like he's gonna say, oh, let him know, Okay, yeah, please, yeah,

(26:32):
guess who. Guess who it leans Nick, you know, and
then we'll do Donald and then we'll do good Voice. Yes.
I brought him on the show in the quiz. So, man,
is this how you tell I'm gonna leave a good
one too? Exactly? He might be. He's probably a little busy,

(26:54):
but I'm gonna leave three one oh five, five, never mind, Okay,
here we go. Hang up. Or press one for more options. Craig,
is it bank our bank? First off? Second off, we
got a guy here that's just talking crazy trash about

(27:15):
you named Peter Sue, and uh, he's going, if you
really want a real banker, call me Peter Sue. Craig,
Isaac knows nothing about cannabis. It's literally what he said.
So I wanted to clarify if you knew anything, call
me back, buddy by thanks. Thanks, Yeah, hold on, yeah,
if he calls back right now, live reaction, we see

(27:36):
him a like ignoring you call that. That would have
been great. He might have done that. Now he's a
He's a great dude, and he comes to a lot
of events. He's out there in the industry doing his thing.
Is that what you guys are doing too? With Green
check verified? I mean, I know most of your guys
location and headquarters is in New York. I have not
seen anybody from your establishment at any California events, So

(27:56):
explain that. Well, so most of our employees are a
remote our head counts um. Actually, I'm not sure. We
recently acquired pay quick, which is locally based in calabasas um.
But yeah, aside from that, we're heavily northeast. But but
but again, most employees are kind of yah. I feel
like I've heard of that one. I want to say,

(28:17):
I heard it from what's his name out there and somebody,
um G four yeah Keith, Yeah, it feels like something
that he used to talk about, right, yeah, you know
Keith Allen. Okay, random, So I couldn't believe you knew
Craig Isaac. That was kind of cool. That was actually
really impressive because that's our banker and we're in the
cannabis space, so it's you know, so to speak. I mean,

(28:39):
we're not really yeah, we're so explain the situation to me.
Blue wants to start an account. He has a let's
just pick the market. I don't know if it's a
dispensary exactly. He's got a clean is it. I mean,
you guys can do Peter anything, a dispensary, delivery service,
give me everything that you guys can do, cultivation and everything,

(29:00):
I mean everything under the sun. Yes, literally yes, So
what's that process look like? You know, we honestly we
are trying to bring normalcy. So any business walking into
a bank, what do you expect? Application? And then boom? Right,
like here here the form approved or not approved? Now,

(29:21):
now look I I think there has there is a
little bit of an adjustment. Right Your your standard business
walking in might produce four or five pieces of documents
and the account could be opened that day, that week.
Um that's that's not going to be the case in
cannabis right now. Um you're looking at you know, sixty
pieces of documents and it might take a month's open
the account. But the point is there shouldn't be like, well,

(29:42):
we're not going to open the account because you're doing X,
Y and z. Granted they'll be questions, Granted there are.
There is a vetting process. Of course, it has to
be legal, right well, yeah, and have a license and
all that good stuff fully credited, yes, But beyond that,
like like unless there's some red flag about the business,
about the individuals, it is a it is a banking

(30:03):
as usual. Now that that would be my aim and
that is what we go into every situation. Let me,
do you ask for the do you want a miss?
Because I was daydreaming, but did you did you ask
them is there a license? Did they do you have
to show you their licensing? Oh? Yeah, you have to
supply that are you guys asking for all that those
documents and then verifying I guess we are, though there

(30:24):
there is an interesting um. So. So one of the
problems in cannabis banking today is what is a cannabis business? Right?
So for example, cannabis talk one on one, Right, you
just mentioned that you guys have insurance for cannabis insurance
you know, etcetera, etcetera. So there's the ancillary um So
the regulators used the words direct and indirect, so in

(30:45):
a way it's a little bit too broad and yet
too specific, right, meaning they look at it too simplistically.
They're saying you're either licensed, your plan touching, so you're direct,
that's what I would think, yeah, or you're indirect. But
that's so broad right there. Think about that um and
there's a term significance. So you derive a significant percentage

(31:06):
of your revenue from cannabis. But is that direct or indirect? Well,
so again would be that's really direct, and that might
be why we get affected, right because it comes to
some of our clients are clients coming down the line,
not all of them, but some of them. Actually it's actually,
to be honest with you, the majority of them are

(31:26):
probably ancillary exactly. That's my point is what most of them,
what we do get. We do have some like yours.
You know, most of them, I mean really advertisers with
us are not touching the planet loran oilsan. We can
go down the list. Yeah, I mean the majority of
them advanced nutrients I mean ancillary. Yeah, they're all not

(31:48):
all of them who have done you know, we have
other people that there are a few are so. Again,
the issue though, is that that is not well defined
by the regulators, and it's it's largely up to the
financial institution to make that decision. So as we're seeing,
um so, so whether whether Fincon is correct and it's
seven fifty or or the insiders are correct and it's
two to fifty. Right, there's always ten thousand financial stitutions

(32:11):
in America, right, so less than ten percent are willing
to bank cannabis today. And that's that's unfortunately. And you
guys are I still am confused because you said I
can still use my Wells, Fargo, my chase, my this
and that. How do you guys then put this package

(32:34):
together to take to the bank for me for us? Yeah, Well,
there's two sides of the business. One side is a
little harder to explain because it's constitative. It depends on
what they need, what they want. So say, for example,
a bank of Credit Union comes to me and says, Pete,
you gotta walk me from day one, like I know nothing.
You know, I want to bank cannabis. You have to
help me together. Financial model should have bank cannabis. How

(32:56):
much money can I make? How many licenses are here
in southern California, things like that, and we will do
anything soup to nuts, whatever that that institution wants or needs.
At the end of that journey, you may decide it's
not for me. I'm not going to do it's too expensive,
there's not enough business, too much work. What are the
reason is? Now? The other side of the business is
a little easier understand. Its software. So you're a bank,

(33:18):
you're banking cannabis. Now, how are you doing it? The
regulators that the regulatory hurdle of banking cannabis is very high.
How are you meeting those burdens right? So that that's
what the regulators are going to ask you. Let me
show me your plan, show me how you're doing it.
And that's where we come in. That's the software, Um,
prior to their being software. That this might make more

(33:39):
sense to you. Prior to their being software. We used
to say, uh, five to eight. So for every five
to eight cannabis businesses you bank, you would have to
add another body. That's how much work is involved in
banking cannabis. Think about that. That that's that's crazy, right,
Like are you talking about nationally or in I mean
I'm saying for for a bank, one bank, one bank,

(33:59):
you are aking cannabis. Now you've made that decision for
every five to eight cannabis businesses you have, depending on
the complexity, etcetera, you're adding another body. That's how much
work is involved. Why is that, Peter, I don't understand.
Because all the cash that's coming in because the regulators
watching it all, I mean, what what is it? Yes?
All of the above. Uh sorry, that's an insight joke

(34:20):
because it told me not to freeze up and no no, um, right, right,
So yes, yes, there's just there's a ton of stuff,
right and and of course part of it is what
you do, like do you what are you right into
your policy? But here's the problem that I have, and
I hate to cut you off because I call bullshit
on that for banks because I look at it like
a freaking liquor store, right, liquor store is gonna come

(34:42):
in with cash. Liquor store is gonna come in with
the same kind of concept as a dispensary. So why
are you treating me differently? You know, one day maybe,
but right now that that's just not the case. But
is that not the logic? Though it could be not
not today? Let's let me give you a few examples.
Please give me some anecdo all evidence that proves me wrong,
because I look at it, going, what's the difference between

(35:03):
the dispensary where we're spending our cash in there? Like
Blue pull out some cash right now, he can show
you go to a dispensary. He could pull out that
same cash and go to a liquor store and buy
tons of liquor for our office here. Well, uh so
there's two things. One right now, a cannabis business is
closer to what we call an MSB money servicing business.

(35:23):
So I think of check casher's currency a t M operators. Right,
those are perfectly legal, but most banks won't do it
because it's high risk, A lot of cash involved, A
lot of work involved. That's cannabis, right, cannabis has wise
it and wire work. Well, it's it's it's literally a
cash crop, right like it's it is. Yeah, you know

(35:44):
the risk of inversion or divers but I mean they
have fancy machines you just drop the money. And well,
it's not specifically about the cash. It is today because
it's if there's a lot of cash, I mean, if
they if they opened up and and you know people
in there's some people are probably sitting on a substantial
money they have to be. They are, they're paying their

(36:06):
employees that way, and it's just terrible. I still don't understand.
And if you can make sense to this, Peter, what
is the concept from the bank the government side of
we don't want all this cash coming in and why
is that the case? Well, the problem is there's a
discrepancy between state and federal law. That's that's it. It's
actually pretty simple. Um. Federally it's illegal. Uh. State by

(36:28):
state you have some level of legality, whether it's medicinal
or full um. But of course we have we have
this concept of supremacy federal law trump's state law in theory.
Right of course, so so so let's let's think this through.
Let's say you're an attorney, right, and you're probably a
big time attorney because you're working at these one of

(36:50):
these big law firm, big bank excuse me, and you're
you have to write a legal opinion. Can we do
cannabis on paper? You would say no because it's federally illegal,
But you're going to explain why in my state of California,
where it is legal, and now I need to get
a legal bank so I can pay my employees. I

(37:10):
think I think it only becomes federal if you do
wires right, Well, it depends. I mean that that's the problem,
right the the the issue is the money goes across
the state. That's probably it right there. I see that
being in the case because now the money is going
cross state lines, not necessarily, not necessarily. The issue really
comes down to a question of perceived risk. Right Can

(37:33):
can I sign my name to something and say, oh, yeah,
we're good, but meaning you as what what what's your
what's your time lions legal? You know something like that. Um,
Now that said, like I said that, there are hundreds
of banks or credit union banking the space, so it's
not as if it doesn't exist, the question is why
is there such a low percentage? Right? So, right now,

(37:54):
I think the state of affairs in cannabis banking today
is not that you can't find banking. It's really a
lack of ability, capacity and costs and it's such a
high risk, which I still don't get why it's a
high risk. If I'm giving you my cash to put
away and then get let me write a check or
use a credit card and let me pay people like
a normal bank account, I I personally just can't swallow it, Like, oh,

(38:16):
I see why I still don't get it. Is it
because like when they get your money, they're using your money,
so they got to make sure your money is legal. Well,
so that's I could walk you through an example you like,
all right, so so so again, keep in mind we're
talking cash, right, A hundred thousand dollars of cash comes
into the bank. Using our software. Let's assume you're you're
you're a bank using green check Verify. Let's say we

(38:37):
can automatically match up that we verified green check verified
eighty thou dollars to state legal data. In other words,
you're reporting to the state. You're reporting to metrics that
you've sold eighty thou dollars worth of good but I
gave you Yeah, that's eight The first you gotta do
that work, right, did you did? You? Can you identify
this eighty tho dollars match it to some somehow matches

(38:58):
to stay reported data and how do you do that?
That's your company that we can do that. But wouldn't
that be track and trace as well? Wouldn't be? So
this is part of the Better Business Bureau of Cannabis
and do using if some of that to much saying
if I had five hundred pounds that I got rid
of that X amount of dollars, you would be able
to see that, right like my dispense rey pulled in.

(39:19):
Or if I'm a grower and I have and I
just sold the blue you know, a hundred pounds of
my crop at blah blah blah, and I have the
transaction and he gave me this cash. There's the proof. Well,
it's not as easy as that if you think about it,
because you have why should it should be the right
because that's proof. So prior to their being software, like
like like green check, the way it was done it

(39:40):
was just manual We're literally just talking like spreadsheets and
ship you know, like like you would have to give
me your sales received for the day. Um. So again,
that's why it was the labor ratio was so high
because it was a ton of work. Imagine looking through
sales receipts and things like that. Is that is that?
What the is that what the bank is required to

(40:01):
do when there's lots of cash coming in. Well, actually
it's worse than that because the bank actually has to
fail get another report, a CTR, a cash transaction report
every I mean anytime it's over tang ground correct, every
transaction tank ground or did they hire that number? Now
it's ten, it's still ten. So no, never deposit more
than ten grand if you don't want some red flags
on your you structure that's actually illegal. What do you mean? So? Uh,

(40:26):
if if you declare let's assume it's all good, it's
a legal transaction. You you you deposit hundred grand in
the bank, they're good. Declare it. Here's the reason, you know, etcetera.
If you structure it so you know, you put five
doll dollars in the bank every day, that's actually illegal.
Oh really yeah, but I'm sorry. Let me finish the example.
So that's good. That's software. We have clients that are

(40:47):
managing fifties sixty eighty accounts per FT per full time
employee because because we can take care of a lot
of that runtwork. All right, Now, keep in mind that's
just talking about the eight grant. Now we've still got
twenty grand left over in the hundred thousand dollars deposited
that could be legit. That could be things like batteries,
bave cartridges, you know anything, right, But how are you

(41:07):
going to identify what that person sold, what the business sold,
match it up to the deposit And by the way,
you have to keep this information readily auditable right at
any given time, because the examiner is gonna walk in
and say, jail, show me your quick books whatever, show
me on on jan You know, uh, this hundred thousand
dollars right, how did you know this is all legit?
Now you have to walk through Okay, here's eighty grand, right,

(41:30):
here's ten grand of batteries and etcetera, etcetera. Take that,
multiply that by a hundred businesses you have. It's it's
a lot of work. That's why you got to have
so many people working. Now, that makes sense of why
the employees come on board without software, Like people, like
I said, people are throwing bodies at the bank's actually
taken in that software. And excuse me there, you are

(41:52):
you implementing that software in with the bank. Yes, yes,
So that's where we come in, right. It's not that
it's not that you can't do without us. We'd really
just improve on, you know, whether it's resources so people,
whether it's uh, you want to scale your program? Uh frankly,
even accuracy, right, Like, just because you're willing to throw
bodies at it doesn't mean you're doing it well, doing

(42:12):
it right. Like imagine me literally looking at like Excel
spreadsheets with like pivot tables, right, and again that's how
it was done back in the day. And now this
is what you guys are doing at green check Verified
for different cannabis entities and for banks and credit So
Blue and I have a cannabis company. We want to

(42:33):
get it. We go to green check verified dot com,
fill out an application, are sending an inquiry of like, hey,
can somebody call me? I want to do this. Here's
sixty documents that we need all our licenses, our I
d s our bank statements are uh, internet supplier and
everything else, because you know, you need to prove who
you are, what you are, what you're doing there. And

(42:54):
then once I give you all this, it's about a
month month and a half process before I you'll help
me get a bank account at a bank of my choice.
Are you guys pick a bank? We we usually try
to give you some optionality. It kind of depends on
it depends on the scenario. So an indirect business like
this for examples, it's easier, right, like like more banks
are okay with that if it's a licensed, you know,

(43:15):
so cal dispensary. And and whether it's because you want
a local bank or because it's better for you know,
for your purposes to have a local bank, we will
make that determination. But and of course it's up to
you a little bit. We're heard all around the world,
and there's different cannabis entities around the world. Do you
guys help other entities around the world. Are only in
the States? Well, our client, yeah, currently we're only in

(43:38):
the in the States, but we we do have uh,
we we have Guam now, which is technically the States,
um And and Puerto Rico. Oh okay, well, listen, anything
else that we forgot before we let you get on
out here today? Uh no, I mean we covered a lot.
I think you guys ask great questions, so thank you.
Yeah yeah, cool. Well you know what if that first
question that was dumb? What I really want to is,

(44:01):
um is before I do let you go? And I
know it's quite a bit, but just to show like
your experience on LinkedIn and I mentioned this before the
first second break whatever, it is like, what is a
c BP Accredited Cannabis Banking Professional? Okay? What is c
TPS Certified Treasury Professional? What is DO? Because it's on

(44:25):
his LinkedIn and I was so impressed. What is c
c BP Certified Commercial Cannabis Banking Professional. What is c
c c E Certified Commercial Cannabis Experts? That's a risk
management okay? What is g r c P Governance Risk
Compliance Professional? What is g r C A Governance Risk

(44:46):
compliance audits? What is I d p P Integrated Data
Privacy Professional? Are you down with O p P? Yeah? Yeah,
you know, you know, yeah, you know me, Peter. Do
you know what OPP stands for? I think I remember

(45:06):
the song, but I don't actually know what it stands
other people's property property. Peter seriously though, and I'm so
happy that you mentioned all these things because reading what
I've read on you, and for those who don't know,
go to the website of course, green check verified dot com.
These guys are doing things, and real quick, what are
the rates if somebody wants to do I know we
mentioned that, you kind of said that that if they

(45:28):
want to do that, what are you looking at? If? Um,
I am a plant touching business? I think he said
he has? Is it? Everybody varies like how much money
we're putting in compared to if I'm putting in outver
a million and it's gonna be less more. It could
be a you know, three grand a month, right or
something like that. It's hard to say because everyone's operation

(45:49):
is different kind of ends of what you need and
stuff like that. National average. Keep in mind we don't
necessarily set the rates right because you're you're not banking
with us, per see, you're banking with a bank, a
credit union. We're kind of in the band background. Um.
It varies greatly depend on the market as well. UM.
I think national average, I would say it's around a
thousand dollars a month. That's that's on top of usage.

(46:09):
So if you're doing wires a cash pickup, cash pickup
is is expensive, right and you know what so ball
Parker's if to get into counter is about a thousand
bucks a month for this banking. Yeah, that's that's just
to take care of like the compliance costs, right, that's
the elevated compliance costs. So some of the banks locally
in California, and I think of thousands is probably about average.

(46:30):
And the application fee again, that varies most banks charge
and application fee um. Actually some of that is because
a lot of people will date around, they'll they'll just
apply everywhere, you know it. So so so banks wind
up spending a lot of money, time and energy vetting
and then they don't open the account. Oh it could happen. Well, Peter,

(46:52):
if you're in the cannabis space and you're looking to
get a bank account called Peter sup Peter, you want
to give up your phone number for this or just
your email or anything, or just go to green Check Verified.
I guess green Check Verified be the easiest. I there is,
there's an increase pot you don't want to give out
your cell phone? I mean, I mean I did like
go to your website and I did read l and
I see you there are yeah three one? Oh, never mind. Well, Peter,

(47:14):
thank you for joining us. One man, Thank you guys.
Well there it is guys, it's Cannabis Talk. I don't
want to remember this. If no one else loves you,
we do. Thank you for listening to Cannabis Talk one
on one on the Hard Radio app Apple Podcast on
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