Correspondent banking is the general name for the business described in detail in the entry on the correspondent banking relationship (CBR): one bank, the correspondent, holds accounts for another bank, the respondent, and makes and receives payments on its behalf. It is the main way banks move money in currencies and countries where they have no branch or direct access to the local payment system.
The term is used for the activity as a whole, including the industry, its risks and its regulation, while "correspondent banking relationship" refers to one specific link between two banks. Each relationship rests on accounts that each side records as a nostro account or vostro account, and payments typically travel as messages over the SWIFT network.
Correspondent banking is closely watched for money laundering and sanctions risk, and many banks have reduced the number of relationships they maintain, a trend known as de-risking. Individual payments made through these links are described under correspondent payment.