What is correspondent banking?
Correspondent banking is the network of intermediary banks that route cross-border payments between institutions that don't hold accounts with each other. Each intermediary adds time, fees, and foreign-exchange spread, which is why a single international payment can take days to clear — and longer in markets where dollars are scarce.
When a sending bank has no direct relationship with the recipient's bank, the payment hops through one or more correspondent banks. Each performs its own checks and takes a cut, and the sender often can't see where the money is or when it will arrive.
In hard-currency markets, this is compounded by limited access to dollars: even a correctly-routed payment can sit waiting for currency to be allocated, stretching settlement from days into weeks.
Artoh works alongside licensed partners to source liquidity and settle cross-border in hours — giving businesses the speed and certainty the correspondent-banking chain can't.