Standard Chartered and Ant International Collaborate on AI-Powered Treasury and FX Management Solutions

• New solution integrates Ant International’s Falcon TST Model with Standard Chartered’s SCALE to enhance FX cost effectiveness and risk management for Ant’s clients
• This expands both companies’ longstanding partnership from blockchain to AI-enabled global corporate cash management solutions

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard Chartered and Ant International today announced a new collaboration to introduce an AI-Powered Treasury and FX Management Solution that integrates Ant International’s Falcon Time-Series Transformer (TST) Model with Standard Chartered’s Aggregated Liquidity Engine (SCALE).

Standard Chartered and Ant International are active Pathfinder institutions in MAS’ financial sector PathFin.ai programme, and this collaboration is a leading example of how AI is augmenting Singapore’s financial sector services.

Expanding on a long-standing partnership in blockchain innovations, the collaboration aims to lower FX costs and enhance risk management for Ant International and its clients. This integration of the two platforms enables seamless data exchange that leads to AI-Powered FX forecasting in real time and 24/7.

Jointly developed with Ant International, the integrated solution is part of Standard Chartered's FX Automation Programme, which is designed to support the multi-currency booking and international vendor settlement needs in real time and 24/7. This helps businesses mitigate costs and FX volatility when transacting across borders.

With the integration of Falcon TST and SCALE, Standard Chartered can forecast Ant International’s FX exposures with more than 90% accuracy, which in turn allows the bank to manage its FX risk more effectively and lower the client’s FX hedging cost, all in real-time and 24/7.

“We continue to invest in our platforms and adopt cutting edge technology to support our clients in effectively managing their risks and exposures, especially during these volatile times”, said Madhu Menon, Global Head of SC PrismFX Sales at Standard Chartered. “Our latest collaboration with Ant International sets the path for an innovative approach to managing and hedging FX risk and costs for Ant International and their clients globally. We are looking forward to further expand our collaboration with Ant International and continue to shape the future of Treasury Management.”

“The expansion of our partnership with Standard Chartered marks an important step in our ongoing journey to leverage technology, including AI, for next-generation cross-border payment solutions. By integrating Standard Chartered’s robust banking capabilities with Ant International’s innovative solutions, we are able to enhance the way businesses manage their global liquidity and FX strategy, so they can experience more efficient cross-border transactions,” said Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech at Ant International.

Ant International’s Falcon TST Model is a transformer architecture-based big data model with close to 2 billion parameters. Equipped with the latest time series forecasting algorithms, the model predicts future data points by learning complex patterns from large historical data sets using AI technology. It can then help businesses improve the efficiency and accuracy of their cashflow and FX exposure forecasts, allowing them to reduce hedging and overall FX costs.

Falcon now forecasts Ant International’s cashflow and FX exposure on an hourly, daily and weekly basis, with more than 90% accuracy. It is currently used to process more than 60% of Ant International’s transactions that involve FX conversion, effectively reducing the company and its customers’ FX costs by up to 60%, and liquidity management costs by up to 50%.

Standard Chartered Aggregated Liquidity Engine (SCALE) is a highly flexible FX solution designed to support corporates and financial institutions clients in pricing products or receiving payments in various currencies with guaranteed FX rates, available 24/7. Leveraging Standard Chartered’s extensive network, SCALE provides clients with access to FX liquidity, reduces FX risk, and streamlines settlements for seamless cross-border business flows.

Standard Chartered and Ant International are committed to innovating and exploring new technologies that serve businesses and their global transaction needs. As the volume of cross-border transactions continues to grow, both sides will continue to develop innovative solutions that allow businesses to transact across borders more seamlessly and securely.

About Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore is part of an international banking group, with a presence in 53 of the world’s most dynamic markets. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good.

The Bank has a history of 166 years in Singapore, where we opened our first branch in 1859. In October 1999, we were among the first international banks to receive a Qualifying Full Bank (QFB) license, an endorsement of the Group's longstanding commitment to our business in the country.

Singapore is home to the majority of our global business leadership, our technology operations, as well as SC Ventures, our innovation hub. In 2013, the Bank transferred our Singapore Retail and SME businesses to a locally incorporated subsidiary, Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited ("SCBSL"). And in May 2019, we fully consolidated our business operations in Singapore through the transfer of our Commercial Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking and Private Banking businesses to SCBSL. SCBSL is well-rated with strong credit fundamentals: A1/Stable by Moody’s Investor Services, A+/Stable by Standard & Poor’s and A+/Stable by Fitch Ratings. In August 2020, we were the first and only bank to be awarded the “Significantly Rooted Foreign Bank” (SRFB) status by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In December 2020, we were granted enhanced SRFB privileges, in recognition of the significantly higher degree of rootedness exceeding the SRFB baseline criteria.

In September 2022, we launched Trust Bank, our digital bank venture in Singapore in partnership with FairPrice Group. Trust Bank has become one of the world’s fastest-growing digital banks, expanding to over 1 million customers, equivalent to around 20% of the Singapore market, in just over 2 years since launch. Trust Bank offers a wide range of products and services for retail customers, enabling them to save, spend, budget, borrow, invest and insure. It is one of the top-rated banks in Singapore on the Apple App Store and has received extensive industry awards and recognition, including the best digital bank in Singapore by The Asian Banker and the best mobile banking app globally by The Digital Banker.

In Singapore, we support both individual and corporate needs to build wealth and drive commerce at every step of their journey. We do this by offering an entire range of financial services across Wealth and Retail Banking as well as our Corporate and Investment Banking teams. The Bank has a network of 11 branches, including 4 Priority Banking Centres, 1 International Banking and Priority Private Centre, and over 30 Standard Chartered ATMs. For more information, please visit www.sc.com/sg.

About Ant International

With headquarters in Singapore and main operations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider. Through collaboration across the private and public sectors, our unified techfin platform supports financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth through a comprehensive range of cutting-edge digital payment and financial services solutions. To learn more, please visit https://www.ant-intl.com/.