The NCUA recently released guidance regarding hemp-related businesses (
https://www.ncua.gov/regulation-sup...s-other-guidance/serving-hemp-businesses). For those that don't have time to read, the NCUA basically says that no SARs need to be filed upon a hemp-related business unless they are operating in violation of the law.
The biggest risk of any hemp-related business is that they're not actually growing "industrial hemp" as defined within the Controlled Substances Act after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. The USDA is in charge of implementing regulations, their approach is that states interested in having an industrial hemp program must develop regulations which meet USDA standards, which include procedures to test products to ensure they're under the CSA's maximum THC threshold of 0.3%. The USDA is targeting 2020 for their implementation of these regulations.
It's your decision as an Institution, based on your tolerance for risk, on how to proceed. At this point in time, a focus of your EDD - in addition to standard review steps - should be on periodically obtaining the results of inspections and THC content testing t get a reasonable assurance that the HRB's not really just an MRB. Right now, there may be more HRBs are relying upon private independent labs, since USDA-approved state regulations are still under development; so in addition to getting some test results, you'll want to vet any non-government lab used to ensure they're legitimate.
While most AML folks are concerned with the CSA, CBD has put a spotlight on the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act; which is governed primarily by the FDA. The FDA has released an FAQ (Google "FDA CBD FAQ" for reference), which indicates that selling CBD is illegal (except for topical CBD not claiming medical benefit); however, things like hemp seed oil are not since "hemp" is generally recognized as safe.
CBD is really the elephant in the room here. Considering the way the FDCA is written, the FDA's stance, the construct of SAR filing regulations in Chapter X and each FFIEC agency's respective regulations, and the complete lack of guidance or exceptive relief; there seems to be no "out" for SAR filing based on the "letter of the law." But requiring SARs on CBD retailers - which seems to be everyone with a cash register or card reader these days - contrasts with the spirit of the law and FinCEN's enforcement priorities.
I have heard of some folks being up front and blatant on their stance on CBD; directly telling regulators they will not file SARs on any of them, notwithstanding the letter of the law. Although that may seem bold to some, it'd be interesting to see if any regulators are going to bother challenging such a stance.
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