A correspondent bank acts as the middleman when sending and receiving banks that don't have agreements in place for wire transfers.
A correspondent bank (also known as an intermediary or through bank) acts as the middleman when sending and receiving banks that don't have agreements in place for wire transfers.
A correspondent bank provides services on behalf of another bank, serving the role of a middleman between the issuing bank and the receiving bank. In the US this oftentimes happens when the financial institution is smaller and is not a direct member of the SWIFT network.