CORPORATE AGENT

A type of trust company that acts on behalf of corporations and some types of governmental entities. Corporate agents provide various types of banking services for corporate clients, such as check clearing, payment of interest and dividends and stock purchase and redemption. They can also collect taxes on behalf of governmental agencies.

Banks act as corporate agents in order to generate additional revenue. This diversifies their income stream away from just the retail banking sector and gives them a more stable revenue base. Most of the services provided by corporate agents are noncredit services, which means the service doesn't involve any extension of credit.