How does Artoh compare to correspondent banking?
Correspondent banking routes a cross-border payment through a chain of intermediary banks, each adding time, fees, and FX spread — and in dollar-short markets the payment can still stall while currency is allocated. Artoh replaces that chain by sourcing compliant USD liquidity through licensed partners and settling directly, so payments clear in hours instead of days, with predictable timing and a single, transparent cost.
| Dimension | Artoh | Correspondent Banking |
|---|---|---|
| Settlement speed | Hours — funds clear directly, around the clock. | Two to five business days through the intermediary chain. |
| Dollar sourcing | Compliant USD liquidity sourced through licensed partners, even where local dollars are scarce. | Depends on the local bank's reserves and the central-bank allocation queue. |
| Cost structure | One transparent, all-in price. | Layered fees and FX spread taken by each correspondent in the chain. |
| Predictability | Known settlement timing finance teams can plan around. | Timing varies with intermediaries, holidays, and currency availability. |
| Transparency | End-to-end visibility on status and cost. | Limited visibility once a payment leaves the originating bank. |
| Compliance | Full KYC/AML through regulated partners — controls stay in place. | Full KYC/AML at each bank — controls stay in place. |
Why the correspondent chain is slow
A correspondent payment hops between banks that hold accounts with one another. Each hop adds processing time, a fee, and an FX margin, and the payment only moves as fast as the slowest link in the chain. Cut-off times, weekends, and holidays compound the delay.
In a market where dollars are rationed, the routing can be correct and the payment still sit waiting — not for processing, but for the central bank to allocate the currency to fund it. That is the failure mode correspondent banking can't solve on its own.
What Artoh does differently
Artoh sources compliant USD liquidity through licensed partners and settles cross-border directly, collapsing the multi-bank chain into a single transfer. Because liquidity is sourced rather than queued for, settlement timing is predictable instead of dependent on an allocation backlog.
Compliance is not the tradeoff for speed. The same know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering checks a bank runs are run here too; the speed comes from deeper liquidity and better rails, not from cutting controls.
When correspondent banking still fits
For corridors that are already fast, liquid, and cheap, traditional correspondent banking works fine. Artoh's advantage is concentrated in hard-currency markets across Africa and Latin America, where dollar scarcity and allocation queues are the real constraint.