# Correspondent Banking **Domain:** Banking / Cross-Border Payments / Financial Networks **Doc Type:** Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition **Correspondent banking is an arrangement in which one financial institution provides accounts, payment access, clearing, foreign-exchange, or other services to another institution, often across jurisdictions.** It allows a bank to transact where it lacks its own branch or direct infrastructure. ## Network Function Correspondent relationships create a layered payment graph. A transaction may pass through several institutions, each seeing only part of the route and applying its own legal, compliance, and reporting obligations. This makes correspondent banking indispensable to global commerce and relevant to questions of visibility, chokepoints, sanctions, and jurisdiction. ## War With Empire Context Correspondent banking is a modern analogue—not a direct continuation—of the trusted intermediary logic visible in merchant credit networks. Both reduce distance through institutional trust. ## Key Insight **Cross-border payment capacity often belongs to the relationship between banks rather than to either endpoint alone.** ## See Also [[wiki/Financial Intermediation|Financial Intermediation]] · [[wiki/Trade Finance|Trade Finance]] · [[wiki/Operational Graph|Operational Graph]] · [[wiki/Jurisdictional Asymmetry|Jurisdictional Asymmetry]]