Definition
Correspondent banking is an arrangement where one bank holds accounts for another bank to process payments, clear funds, or access foreign markets. Regulators scrutinize correspondent relationships for AML/CFT gaps because downstream banks may rely on originating banks’ customer due diligence.
Key Points
- High-risk correspondent ties—especially offshore and shell-company networks—remain a long-tail enforcement theme after Panama Papers-era reviews (2026-10-16-nydfs-fines-seb-33m-aml)
- Baltic and cross-border monitoring weaknesses in correspondent chains drove NYDFS action against seb in 2026
Related
- correspondent-banking-compliance
- aml-cft
- trade-based-money-laundering
- seb
- nydfs
- fintech-regulation
- regulatory-compliance