Conventional correspondent banking works in one direction: each institution reaches out and opens accounts wherever it needs to send or receive money. Reverse correspondence turns that around. Instead of institutions holding accounts in many places, one hub holds correspondent accounts for institutions. The account now faces inward, towards participants, rather than outward.

The conventional direction

In today's model, a bank that wants reach in several currencies must hold nostro balances at partners in each of those currencies. Every new corridor means another relationship, another agreement and another prefunded balance. Scale multiplies the work rather than simplifying it, and the cost of that work is duplicated at every institution that follows the same pattern.

The reversed direction

Under reverse correspondence, a participant connects once and the hub holds the accounts that make settlement possible. Rather than building a relationship per corridor, the institution builds one relationship with the network and reaches many counterparts through it.

This is a shift in who carries the structural cost. Prefunding, monitoring and reconciliation concentrate at the hub, where netting and a single order book can reduce gross flows, instead of being repeated at every participant. A shared point can also validate each operation once, so the same checks are not performed independently along the chain.

Why it matters for clients

Nothing needs to change for the client at the end of the chain. They remain customers of their own bank or fintech and never have to know the layer exists. What changes is what sits behind that relationship: fewer negotiated links, one set of participation rules, and settlement that can happen internally rather than hop by hop. The client keeps the relationship they already trust; the institution gains reach without rebuilding its network one corridor at a time.

SUPA operates this model as a neutral protocol layer — it does not compete with participants for their clients. Before a banking licence, balances sit with licensed partners rather than in SUPA's own name.

In short

  • Today every institution builds a relationship per corridor.
  • Reverse correspondence puts the accounts at the hub, not at each participant.
  • Participants connect once and reach many counterparts through the network.
  • End clients keep their existing bank or fintech relationship.

Start with the model overview at /protocol/.