Pub. 4 2014 Issue 3

9 SUMMER 2014 Alfred Pollard, General Counsel for The Federal Housing Finance Agency data breaches. They noted that cyber- criminals are becoming much more adept at compromising data security systems, particularly at the merchant level. The attacks are becoming more sophisticated and frequent. How businesses are responding to the state level legalization of marijuana was also examined. Washington and Colorado have legalized retail sales of marijuana and an additional 21 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medicinal marijuana. Arizona’s medical marijuana statute provides specific workplace discrimina- tion protections to registered medical marijuana card holders, which presents some unique challenges to all employers in this state, not just banks. One of the most interesting aspects of the issue from a legal perspective, how- ever, may be how the banking industry has inadvertently become the major obstacle to the marijuana industry’s ac- cess to the payments system. This is due to the fact that marijuana is still illegal under federal law. At the end of the conference we heard from two leading candidates to be Ari- zona’s next governor. Former Clinton Administration White House aide Fred DuVal and former Mesa Mayor Scott Smith engaged in a lively discussion moderated by Arizona’s former Attor- ney General Grant Woods. Banking is an extremely competitive industry, but these annual meetings always prove to be an enjoyable op- portunity to reconnect with colleagues and learn from peers. The bankers are proud to hold their annual meetings in Arizona and look forward to next year’s gathering in Tucson. w Alfred Pollard of FHFA; Paul Hickman, President of AzBA; Wes Hoskins of ABA; Matt Brown of ABA; Lynne Herndon, BBVA Commpass City President and AzBA  Immedi- ate Past Chairman; James Ballentine of ABA n Annual Convention — continued on page 10