A recent IFC survey confirmed what many of financial institutions have been concerned about for the last few years: The network of Correspondent Banking Relationships (CBRs) is under tremendous pressure.

To address multiple sets of new, sometimes conflicting, compliance requirements emerging market banks are spending large amounts to upgrade their processes, hire more staff, and put in place expensive software upgrades to deal with compliance. The survey found 78 percent said they expect these costs to continue to rise.