what is a correspondent bank 
a correspondent bank is a financial institution that provides services to another one usually in another country it acts as an intermediary or agent facilitating wire transfers conducting business transactions accepting deposits and gathering documents on behalf of another bank correspondent banks are most likely to be used by domestic banks to execute transactions that either originate or are completed in other countries domestic banks generally use correspondent banks to gain access to foreign financial markets and to serve international clients without having to open branches abroad 1