Citi and Ant International have partnered to pilot a cutting-edge FX risk management solution for customers, leveraging Ant International’s Falcon Time-Series Transformer (TST) Model. Initially developed for the aviation sector, this innovative tool aims to optimize payment processing and foreign exchange cost management for airlines, which handle billions of transactions annually.
With the airline industry poised for continued growth, the collaboration merges Ant International’s expertise in airline payment systems with Citi’s comprehensive FX solutions, helping clients better manage currency exposure and reduce FX-related expenses.
The Falcon TST Model is a sophisticated AI-driven forecasting tool, built on a transformer architecture with nearly 2 billion parameters. It uses advanced time series forecasting algorithms to analyze vast historical datasets, enabling businesses to predict future cashflows and FX exposures with enhanced precision. This improved accuracy allows companies to minimize hedging and overall FX costs.
Citi pairs this AI model with its Fixed FX Rates solution—an acclaimed offering that locks in FX rates for specified periods to simplify risk management for businesses operating across multiple currencies. Supporting over 70 currencies and serving sectors including Airlines, Travel, and e-Commerce, the Fixed FX Rates solution delivers predictable budgeting, pricing, and profitability by mitigating currency fluctuation risks.
With Ant International’s AI-enhanced forecasting, businesses can refine their sales and FX exposure predictions. The Falcon TST Model has demonstrated over 90% accuracy in Ant’s own deployments and is expected to help airlines cut hedging costs further as forecast precision improves.
Citi has already completed live FX transactions using this combined solution for a leading Asian carrier, successfully lowering the airline’s FX hedging expenses in initial trials.
Sam Hewson, Global Head of FX Sales at Citi, commented, “We are constantly evolving our products and solutions to support new use cases built on our clients’ priorities. Citi’s Fixed FX Rates solution supports some of the world’s largest e-Commerce and Travel names and this innovative solution sees us leveraging best-in-class technology capabilities in the broader ecosystem to accelerate go-to-market use cases.”
Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech at Ant International, added, “This is the first industry-tailored solution developed from our Falcon TST Model with a bank partner to serve their customers. It’s an important milestone in our journey to leverage AI for FX management for our businesses, partners, and also merchants. The 30% hedging cost savings Ant International has achieved for the pilot airline customer shows the cost efficiency that can be achieved with AI-enabled FX hedging. We are excited to expand the solution with Citi to serve more businesses and industries.”
