Barclays and Ant International partner on FX risk management through AI

Barclays and Ant International, an affiliate company of Alibaba Group, have entered into a strategic partnership to modernise global treasury operations through artificial intelligence.

The core objective of the partnership, which integrates Ant’s proprietary Time-Series Transformer (TST) Model into Barclays’ FX hedging platform, is to improve the accuracy of FX exposure forecasts and deliver cost savings to businesses contending with currency volatility. Initial trial transactions between the two firms have already been completed, with early results suggesting enhanced efficiency and measurable reductions in FX-related costs.

Ant International’s TST Model is a high-capacity AI system built on a transformer architecture and trained using nearly two billion parameters. By applying time series forecasting techniques, the model provides granular insights into FX exposure and cashflow projections on an hourly, daily, and weekly basis. Ant reports that its forecasting accuracy rates exceed 90%.

Barclays has embedded the model into its BARX NetFX platform, a digital FX solution that supports institutional clients in the e-commerce and payments space.

Through this integration, which is part of the bank’s broader FX Automation strategy, Barclays can offer clients better visibility over FX risk, particularly for high-volume, cross-border payment flows.

Ben Parkinson, Head of Global Fintech & FX Automation Sales at Barclays, said, “This collaboration reflects the strong relationship and mutual trust between our teams. Their state-of-the-art AI model has improved the accuracy of forecasting cash flows and helped us optimise the FX hedging process. By combining Ant International’s advanced AI forecasting capabilities with our market-leading FX expertise, we’ve been able to reduce uncertainty and cost, setting a new benchmark for FX risk management.”

From Ant’s perspective, the partnership marks a step forward in leveraging AI to create downstream benefits for its business clients.

Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech at Ant International, said: “ The results that we have achieved by combining Barclays’ advanced banking capabilities with Ant International’s innovative solutions demonstrate how technology can enhance the way businesses manage their global liquidity, by enabling more efficient FX transactions. It also shows how enhancing our treasury management can benefit our customers, when businesses translate the cost efficiencies into competitive FX rates.”

While the solution currently supports major currency pairs such as EUR/USD, both firms have indicated plans to scale coverage and expand application to additional markets. The move comes amid a structural shift in global finance, with cross-border transaction volumes projected to exceed US$290 trillion by the end of the decade.