Coffeeshops
and
banking
Bank relationships, cash, card payments and value transport — the six core issues behind the sector's banking problems.
Coffeeshops are tolerated, but like any other business they have to pay their taxes, staff and rent. At the same time, banks structurally classify them as high-risk, which leads to business accounts being closed or refused. This directly undermines the practical feasibility of the tolerance policy.
This dossier brings together the legal, practical and political dimensions: from the Money Laundering Act (Wwft) and banks' duty of care to the Bibob integrity framework, the collapse of secure value transport, the limited card-payment infrastructure and the political steps — including the Cash Money Covenant — taken to keep the sector workable.