Citi, HSBC, StanChart adopt Ant International’s forex AI tool

By Selena Li

HONG KONG, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Ant International launched an upgraded version of its artificial intelligence model on Thursday, signing up major global banks as financial institutions accelerate the adoption of specialised AI to manage liquidity risks.

The Singapore-based fintech giant rolled out its Falcon Time-Series Transformer Model 2.0 and has partnered with six large banks including Citi, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered, and Barclays, according to Kelvin Li, the firm's general manager of platform tech.

The launch comes amid an accelerating global race among financial institutions to embed AI into their core operations.

Li said the model specialises in financial scenarios and has an edge over general-purpose large models, which have "yet to achieve a universal breakthrough in the financial sector."

"Precise forecasting can slash foreign exchange hedging and allocation costs by over 60%," Li said.

Ant International, an overseas affiliate of the ​Jack Ma-founded Chinese fintech firm Ant Group, raised $1.2 billion last month in its latest equity fundraising as it seeks to expand.

(Reporting by Selena Li; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)