Global Finance: How are you improving the user experience utilizing application programming interfaces [APIs] and microservices architecture?

Gautam Dutta: Enhancing user experience is paramount to FAB, and the integration of API and microservices architecture is a vital component in this endeavor, including in corporate cash management solutions. By adopting APIs, key innovation providers like FAB can offer real-time data access and seamless connectivity between various treasury/ERP system bank services. This facilitates faster and more efficient payment and cash management operations, providing corporate treasurers with immediate visibility and control over their financial transactions.

Microservice architecture further contributes to the user experience by allowing the development of modular, scalable and independent services that can be quickly updated or replaced without disrupting the entire system. The flexibility of our modular approach ensures that new features and improvements can be rapidly deployed, enhancing the overall user experience by providing corporate treasurers with more responsive, reliable and customized payment and cash management solutions. With strategic initiatives like API-based message tracking, APIs and microservices architecture will gain further momentum, as we are seeing with FAB’s marquee clients, who are implementing APIs for various services involving payables and receivables.

GF: Can you talk about your white label treasury management system [TMS] and why you decided to make it pay-as-you-go?

Tariq Hoodbhoy: FAB decided to launch a white label TMS after assessing the market and finding a gap. As our corporate clients grew, their reliance on Excel was backfiring and simple tasks such as visibility or consolidation of balances was taking much longer—and was occasionally prone to errors. In keeping with FAB’s “customer first” ethos, we decided that a white label TMS would help corporate clients manage their treasury with greater control, efficiency and a better platform to manage risks.

While discussing the TMS proposition with clients, we found that their needs varied. Some just needed the dashboard for visibility of their balances, and others simply wanted to access the TMS to view and monitor their loans. With the flexibility provided by the system, we were able to carve out the modules clients needed, only charging them for what was used. As their business matures and they need more features, we can switch or add modules, training them accordingly. This approach ensures clients are not overwhelmed by the entire system and are only paying for what is needed, rather than buying into a system where they have only implemented 20% of the features. In addition, we provide our clients with a user acceptance testing [UAT] environment that can replicate their production profiles for testing if they are unsure of whether it is time to scale. Once they are comfortable, they can replicate the model and put it into production.

GF: How did your banking-as-a-service offering for neobanks come about, and what benefits do they get from offering your banking services?

Dutta: FAB is at the forefront of digital and technological adoption and is positioned to unlock the open banking opportunity that is reshaping the global financial services landscape through the leveraging of BaaS. We have embarked on providing effective solutions to neobanks’ customers in order to streamline and facilitate cash deposits, check deposit services and cash withdrawals using FAB’s regulated infrastructure. BaaS is the end-to-end solution that allows neobanks and other third parties to connect to a bank’s system, such as ours, directly via APIs so they can build banking offerings on top of the providers’ regulated infrastructure. Given the limited or no-branch network model of many neobanks, leveraging FAB’s extensive reach and robust infrastructure through its BaaS solution is beneficial for all. Neobanks can expand their service footprint in a completely seamless manner, ensuring their customers can conveniently manage their banking needs, irrespective of their location. FAB’s BaaS proposition is designed with simplicity and ease in mind, thus allowing neobanks to offer effortless and secure transaction processing to their customers. In addition, FAB provides a dedicated support structure for neobanks through dedicated contact centers that route queries raised by their customers for a robust, full-service, digitally seamless solution.      

Global Finance: Why bring Global Transaction Banking and Enterprise Payments together under the new name Global Payments Solutions?

Mark Monaco: In July of last year, the bank combined GTB and EP, bringing all the payments activity within the bank under one roof. It’s a continuation of work that we started a number of years ago, to recognize the strategic importance of payments to the bank. Under GPS, we manage payments infrastructure, strategy, and market investments, and identify the intersection of innovative solutions that support consumer and corporate customers. We strongly believe that in addition to providing advice and credit, our role is to facilitate payments. To do that, we want to develop a robust set of solutions for our customers. The lines are getting blurred as businesses pay customers directly and pay workers on a casual basis [such as in the gig economy]. The industry is also dealing with the rapid growth of payments technology. Being organized the way we are now; we are well-situated to support clients and lead the industry.

GF: Do you think interest rates have peaked, and are corporate treasuries better positioned to react when new challenges arise?

Monaco: The last rate hike made by the US Federal Reserve was in July 2023, and our team of economists from BofA Global Research is expecting the fed to first cut rates by 25 basis points in December of this year and continue cutting four times next year. Outside the US, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada have recently begun cutting rates, while others, such as the Bank of England, are taking a wait-and-see approach. The key for corporate treasurers is to stay informed of market expectations, and review and adjust forecast and stress scenarios frequently. We are supporting our clients to be nimble and responsive in this environment—not only with treasury services, but also FX, trade, credit and capital markets.

GF: What strategies can companies deploy to optimize liquidity?

Monaco: We’ve been working with companies on a number of strategies to optimize liquidity. They include 1) Consolidating cash between regions. Physical cash concentration structures automate transfers between accounts into a single account; clients can mitigate FX exposure and get better visibility and control; 2) Notional pooling. The short-term working capital tool uses surplus balances to reduce reliance on short-term debit. The strategy reduces the need to perform multiple FX transactions, minimizes borrowing costs and can support repatriation of liquidity using a “follow the sun” approach; 3) Improving visibility through sweeps. Cross-currency sweeps can generate a consolidated global position of cash from two accounts in different currencies. Multibank sweeps aggregate providers and balances across accounts via a single automated sweep; and 4) Enrolling in a supply chain finance, card or other payables solutions, where a company can extend payments terms and increase working capital.

We’re also seeing increasing adoption of our CashPro Data Intelligence tools, such as CashPro Forecasting and CashPro Insights, that generate accurate, real-time cash visibility and data driven insights, which are essential to rapidly changing economic conditions. The tool has attracted thousands of client enrollments.

GF: How has digital innovation helped you make CashPro enhancements that match clients’ changing behavior and expectations?

Monaco: We constantly survey the technology landscape for innovations that we think have an application to our clients’ real-world problems. However, the technology itself is not where we start the innovation process. That begins with identifying the challenges that our clients most want to fix, which we discover through dialogue with them through our CashPro Client Advisory Boards and other feedback mechanisms. After that, we look for the right technology and processes to meet the challenge.

Over the past year, three things stood out in terms of changing behavior. One is the stickiness of mobile adoption. Clients—whether they are remote or working from the office—still want the same flexibility and ubiquity of using a mobile device that they have in their personal lives. This has been witnessed through the incredible momentum of our CashPro App.

The second was and is data. Our banking platform CashPro produces an incredible amount of data. We’re now able to lift the burden off clients by analyzing data on their behalf, helping them release staffing hours from manual processes as well as realize ways they can be more efficient with their cash or payments or working capital. Overall, our goal is to meet clients wherever they are on their technology journey—from simplified solutions to a full-scale technology integration. The third is APIs. We’ve expanded our CashPro API network to enable clients to connect to our APIs through their ERP or TMS provider. The demand for APIs is growing at a rapid pace, as companies need to meet the demand for instant data and communication.

Global Finance: BBVA recently introduced a machine learning (ML) pipeline for early debt recovery. What problem does this innovation solve?

Clara Higuera: When clients start facing difficulties in repaying loans, this is a double problem—for the customer and for the bank. Until two years ago, the debt recovery process was very manual, delaying offering solutions to clients.

We now have five machine-learning models that are either in development or in the production process. One model, for example, predicts the probability that a client will start facing difficulties—e.g., being unable to repay a loan—even when they are up to date with payments. Another is a model for predicting prolonged default—i.e., a default lasting two years or more for a customer already in default.

These models allow the bank to offer solutions earlier—within a month for many clients—whereas before, it could take a year before a solution was offered to those clients.

GF: What solutions or interventions can the bank apply when a loan appears to be troubled?

Higuera: It varies. It can involve a call from a financial adviser to a client or the offer of a refinancing solution. The ML models also rank clients according to their criticality, so financial advisers can prioritize which clients to contact first.

GF: Your offering uses a nonlinear boosting algorithm, XG-Boost. Nonlinear ML algorithms have been criticized for lacking interpretability. That is, it can be difficult for a bank to explain in everyday business language how it has arrived at a decision—either internally or to a client. Is this a concern for BBVA?

Higuera: Currently, we have used mainly tree-based models, like XG-Boost, which are less interpretable than logistic regression [which the bank used previously]. But for this reason, we have an evaluation and interpretability module in the pipeline that helps us visualize and understand the more important variables globally and locally.

Also, these models will not be used directly for the client but are more for our financial managers to manage debt. We do not use the most uninterpretable models, like neural networks, because we want some interpretability.

Finally, we hold sessions with the business units to analyze specific cases with them, which helps to [explain decisions and] uncover potential errors.

GF: Did the ML Pipeline require a “culture change” within BBVA before the innovation could be developed?

Higuera: The bank has used analytics for a long time and already has an established way of working. However, it took some time to build this new model, and we had to build trust to reach our goal. This was probably the most difficult part because we had to live with a lot of uncertainty.

We had to approach it by integrating the traditional methodology [i.e., logistic regression] with the new one [XG-Boost] and report performance comparisons so we could convince everyone that it worked.

It was also important that the team that was formed included data scientists from the bank’s Risk Analysis department and our AI Factory unit. As new modules were added to the pipeline, progress was constantly discussed.

GF: Is there any one of the five models that has been particularly useful?

Higuera: We see each of these as a funnel to help prevent clients from going from a critical state to an even more critical state. Each model provides insights that can slow down that movement toward default. The project is designed to be holistic—to help clients earlier.

GF: What organizational and innovation lessons have you learned?

Higuera: The value that data and AI can give to your organization is essential. Communication between the technical and nontechnical sides of the organization is also critical. Working as a team, a fundamental value at BBVA, is also essential.  

Global Finance: What drives the innovation that you’re building into your business?

André Portilho: Innovation is essential tool for the continual evolution of products, processes and services to meet current and future market demands. We invest in innovative solutions that maintain a human touch, and our open innovation model integrates with startups and other partners. In Brazil, BTG Pactual is among the pioneers that are building systems in which customers can share their information between institutions.

GF: How have you used technology to overcome business challenges?

Portilho: For years, BTG Pactual discussed plans to bring a retail banking experience to the market. This would require a significant physical presence that, given Brazil’s large size, would take years and considerable capital to build.

Technology developments in the past decade allowed BTG Pactual to rethink this strategy and launch a fully digital retail bank. Our retail funding base has consistently grown. We are now focused on launching our digital business banking platform for SMEs, as we believe this segment in Brazil is underserved.

GF: How is the BTG Dol different from other stablecoins? How do you see digital assets fitting into your overall strategy and the future?

Portilho: BTG Pactual brings an exceptional layer of trust and security to BTG Dol, which is essential for a stablecoin. The BTG Dol is easily accessible through the bank’s platforms, such as the BTG Investimentos app and the Mynt platform. 

BTG Pactual is a pioneer in adopting blockchain technologies. The bank sees tokenization as a fundamental component of the future of financial assets.

GF: How can stablecoins bridge the gap between fiat and cryptocurrency markets?

Portilho: Stablecoins provide a less-volatile entry point into the crypto markets, attracting investors who might otherwise be wary of the typical fluctuations associated with cryptocurrencies. A broader investor base can lead to increased liquidity and adoption of blockchain technologies.

Additionally, stablecoins facilitate strategic partnerships between traditional financial institutions and fintech innovations. These collaborations enhance product offerings and operational efficiencies, helping institutions to seamlessly integrate with digital markets while maintaining robust compliance and governance frameworks. This enriches the financial ecosystem and ensures a standardized approach to managing digital transactions.

GF: How has technology innovation advanced sustainability initiatives?

Rafaella Dortas: All of BTG Pactual’s relationships and transactions undergo a socioenvironmental due-diligence process based on the principles of relevance and proportionality. For each business segment and industry, the Environmental, Social and Governance Management System [ESGMS] specifically addresses ESG risk so that it’s appropriately identified, assessed, classified, monitored and mitigated. We have also developed systems and processes to facilitate our ESG risk analysis. These include a customized system used for SMEs [small and midsize enterprises] that compares companies with various publicly available data sources, including an extensive database of socioenvironmental and climate risks. We also have a tool for rural properties that combines satellite imagery with public information and geospatial data to analyze the land’s overlap with different types of territories, Rural Environmental Registry that records protected lands, and embargoed environments.

GF: How will technology impact sustainable finance?

Dortas: Technology accelerates execution and reduces costs in the environmental-asset project development process. There are major barriers in terms of accessing land, but technology can help us overcome these barriers to develop the environmental assets market. The CarbonSpore’s technology [which estimates potential carbon credits a region could produce] provides significant cost savings in monitoring, managing and analyzing opportunities and projects, while facilitating investment decision-making and establishing strategies. With banks increasingly entering the environmental assets market, these tools are revolutionary for the industry. They identify territories that are more likely to achieve socioenvironmental and climatic success. Also, CarbonSpore helps create strategies for expanding project areas that generate better results in terms of social quality and biodiversity. It’s impact lies in its agility and its financial savings, which are two of the biggest challenges in the environmental assets market.

Global Finance: How will artificial intelligence (AI) influence banking of the future?

Bahadir Yilmaz: AI enables faster and smarter decision-making in a personalized fashion, using much bigger datasets than ever before. Data combined with superior analytics leads to insight and foresight, which allows us to give our customers a superior experience that is easy, personal, instant and relevant. We would like to position analytics and AI as the most critical enablers in transforming our operations. We have the people, the knowledge and the management support to achieve this. Long term, we must stay close to the latest developments in the market, so we must stay relevant. Therefore, having an active and safe approach toward technologies like generative AI is key.

GF: How does ING balance innovation with Europe’s more cautious approach to generative AI (genAI)?

Yilmaz: ING supports innovation while ensuring that neither the bank nor our customers are exposed to any risks related to innovation or experimentation. Innovation initiatives must be done in a responsible, structured and supervised way. This is especially true for genAI, a new technology in uncharted territory. We recognize it has potential benefits, so to test this, we’re taking a tightly controlled and focused approach where we can apply genAI and learn from controlled experiments. As a bank, we have access to a lot of personal information about our customers. They trust us to keep this data as safe as their money. We have a responsibility to safeguard their information, protect their privacy and ensure our systems and online environment are secure. We also must leverage the potential of AI in a responsible manner, aiming to keep the bank safe by focusing on and prioritizing domains like KYC, detection of financial crime, fraud and sustainability.

GF: How are you future-proofing ING’s use of genAI?

Yilmaz: ING recognizes the potential of genAI. It’s all about providing a better customer experience. We want our customers to interact with us in a personal, fast, relevant and easy way. We are taking a prudent and responsible approach to doing this safely and securely and exploring opportunities in two areas: customer contact, such as chatbots and transcript analysis, and software engineering to write code or fix bugs.

These experiments have shown there is value in incorporating genAI into our processes. Now we’re going to expand our experiments into areas like marketing—with consent from the customer—KYC and Wholesale Banking lending, where we believe genAI can potentially transform our business processes and contribute to a superior customer experience.

GF: What is innovation’s role at ING, and what other technologies are involved?

Yilmaz: ING has a reputable and well-regarded approach to innovation. Innovation in terms of using technology to improve our services and the customer experience continuously has always been a key part of our strategy. We aim to create products and services that seamlessly provide solutions to our customers regardless of segment and business line. Everything around us—from our customers’ needs and expectations to the business environment—continues to change increasingly rapidly. Many of these environmental changes are, and need to be dealt with, within the core of ING as part of our “business as usual” process improvements and our ongoing digital transformation.

Global Finance: Are we ready for the end-to-end digitalization of trade?

Iain MacLennan: Yes, the world is now ready for the end-to-end digitalization of trade and supply chain finance. We have been on the cusp of this for several years. We started on the journey prior to the pandemic, saw an acceleration through the pandemic, and now we have seen further fundamental changes in the past six months to push this forward. One of these was the Electronic Trade Documents Act, which allowed electronic trade documents to be [treated the same as paper documents] from late September 2023 under English law. Other countries, such as Germany, France and the Netherlands, are progressing with similar legislation. Another reason we are now ready is due to the potential benefits of digitization in terms of carbon-emissions reductions and business and operational efficiencies, such as real-time data capabilities, process effectiveness, et cetera. The International Chamber of Commerce has stated that the digitization of trade documents could generate up to £25 billion ($32 billion) in incremental growth this year, and up to £224 billion in efficiency savings.

GF: What are the benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence in trade finance?

MacLennan: AI has been used for document compliance checking and fraud solutions within the trade finance space for several years, and as AI develops, so will its use within the trade finance industry. To understand how, I asked ChatGPT where it would benefit the trade finance industry. Its suggestions included the extension of fraud detection and compliance management; the removal of manual processing through, for example, the automation of invoice or payment processing; insights into trade transactions and trade flows, as well as decision-making support off the back of this; and customer and colleague support via knowledge and transaction management assistance.

There will be obvious benefits from the continued development of AI in our business. However, there are potential challenges for AI, including data quality, cost, scalability, ethics and repeatability.

GF: How are collaborations driving trade finance solutions “as a service”?

MacLennan: We talk a lot about the trade ecosystem, which encompasses the physical movement of goods, documentary flow and the financial flows associated with the transaction. Within this ecosystem, there are a significant number of participants and information providers. We now see significant collaboration between the various participants, industrial bodies, application providers and others. There are also several partnerships being built to address significant systemic challenges, although we need to be mindful of several challenges, particularly in trade networks. Networks are notoriously difficult, and I use the Lord of the Rings analogy: “There will not be one network to rule them all.” Here, interoperability is key. We have been talking about interoperability for several years, but this is now at the fore. In terms of solutions as a service, we create additional value with our partners who operate as a service for our clients, allowing them to realize value from this relationship. At Sibos, we presented our concept of a trade finance utility with IBM where we see value in creating a trade finance stack as a service that a client could engage with, without having to onboard multiple partners.

GF: How can technology help the trade finance industry prioritize environmental, social and governance goals?

MacLennan: Technology will allow the trade finance industry to meet the required standards in ESG as they develop, so it isn’t really a case of prioritizing; it is really about execution and standardization. There are already several ESG solutions in the market. I work closely with one that provides automated ESG scoring. This partner has aligned itself with frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and EU Taxonomy and collaborates with many financial institutions and other bodies to build its offering from a market perspective and not simply a “one bank view.”  This is where I believe the trade finance industry is ahead of other parts of the financial sector, based on my discussions with peers. Building frameworks, along with access to the required data sources, will be key to proving ESG compliance and addressing potential concerns on “greenwashing.” In addition, technology allows the opportunity to seamlessly update any such scoring based on material changes to the inputs, which means that you can have an up-to-date view on a transaction or counterparty based on current information.

Global Finance: What are the key supply chain financing innovation trends?

Maureen Sullivan: One certitude in supply chain finance [SCF] is an ever-evolving landscape, and banks are always looking for ways to help clients manage the financing of their supply chains, whether it be through continued product development or innovation.

One trend is looking to embed supply chain financing earlier in the cycle—while the product is in transit, or even during the preproduction phase. For example, inventory finance has been a hot topic lately. One of the lessons companies learned during the pandemic was the need to have the right product in the right place, but that meant deploying multiple sourcing venues or having buffer stock. Words like “nearsourcing” and “nearshoring” entered the mainstream vernacular. Companies now facing an impact of inventory buildup on their balance sheet are looking for relief through inventory financing techniques.

Another example might be purchase order financing, but for a product like that to be really scalable, predictability is key. And this is where I think artificial intelligence and machine learning could add value in its ability to analyze vast amounts of data and make more accurate risk assessments. Regulated differently than fintechs, banks need transparency, performance and predictability. So, if a buyer works with five suppliers, for example, and AI could predict that 99.999% of the time whenever this company places a purchase order, it is paid, then perhaps banks might be open to providing a solution.

With the focus on sustainability and environmentally friendly sourcing, green supply chain financing is growing. While companies explore ways to integrate green finance principles into their practices, banks are offering sustainable SCF solutions to provide financing incentives through ESG scoring that drives positive supplier behavior.

GF: How is SCF empowering small and midsize enterprises?

Sullivan: SMEs have a unique set of challenges in managing cash flow. Given their size, it may be more difficult for them to access traditional financing options, such as loans or credit lines. Yet, they need a ready source of liquidity, accessible as needed, without taking on additional debt or other financial liabilities.

A solution like dynamic discounting provides this flexible financing option and allows an SME to receive early payments from customers in exchange for offering a discount on their invoices. It also can foster stronger relationships between SMEs and their customers, making them more attractive to buyers, leading to improved supplier/buyer relationships and the potential for a competitive advantage, especially in industries where quick and efficient transactions are valued.

As a cost-effective way for SMEs to access working capital, they can use these early payments to improve cash flow or meet operational expenses, invest in growth or take advantage of time-sensitive opportunities.

GF: How are you helping clients navigate SCF regulations and compliance?

Sullivan: We operate in a regulated industry, and compliance is one of the key cornerstones of the supply chain ecosystem. Every transaction that passes through our platforms is scanned to ensure alignment with regulatory requirements.

With respect to the regulatory landscape—and considering the Financial Accounting Standards Board [FASB] ruling requiring corporations to disclose key SCF program terms and obligations on their quarterly and annual balance sheet reports—we craft reports that are uploaded to our buyer portal and stored for client use when needed. These reports provide a second data source, like an “audit confirmation” for clients looking to check their numbers prior to reporting. We also developed a series of educational resources to help our clients understand what this FASB update means for their buyer-led programs. On the compliance side, as a bank, we must ensure that all parties involved in any transactions are known to us. US federal law requires financial institutions to follow a “know your customer” [KYC] process that requires us to obtain, verify and record information about each entity or person seeking to establish a business relationship and/or open accounts with us. The goal of KYC is to prevent a bank from being used, intentionally or not, for money laundering, terrorism or other illegal activities. We provide assurance to a company when they work with us that all of the necessary compliance steps have been followed.

Global Finance: How has a strong US dollar and increased volatility been reflected in corporate clients’ demands?

Gabriel Rombenso: It is important to note that our corporate clients are more prepared to face volatility in the foreign exchange market. Many have implemented hedging strategies to protect their transactions against fluctuations in foreign exchange [FX]. These strategies may include using futures, swaps and options contracts to set the FX rate and reduce the risk of financial losses. Overall, our FX risk-management specialists saw an increase in the demand of our clients seeking our expertise to help them understand and manage these risks.

GF: How do the expectations and demands of clients seeking to invest in emerging markets differ from those seeking developed markets?

Rombenso: Emerging markets have higher interest rates. These interest rates attract investors who seek carry-trade strategies, believing in the gain arising from the different interest rates between emerging countries and developed countries. When the developed markets start to increase their interest rates, there is a migration to these countries, thus depreciating the emerging markets’ currencies, which can wipe out the gains from this strategy of exploiting differences in interest rates. As a result, these investors, in an attempt to protect themselves, increase the demand for strong currency hedging in emerging markets. The tolerance to negative rumors also decreases, making these currencies more volatile.

GF: How have increased geopolitical tensions worldwide affected your clients’ FX concerns?

Rombenso: In addition to the volatility seen in the macroeconomic context, 2023 was also strongly affected by geopolitical tensions. This backdrop brought more fluctuation to the markets, requiring more attention from clients to monitor what is happening with prices and protect themselves through the mechanisms we have just discussed.

Also, these tensions make us more alert concerning international sanctions. Countries, goods and counterparts become restricted overnight, directly affecting companies’ commercial and financial operations. In this context, we have noticed an increase in the use of guarantees, such as letters of credit, in foreign exchange transactions. This tool has effectively mitigated the risks associated with trading performance and ensured security in international transactions.

GF: Has the bank faced a growing need to adapt to commodity producers’ demands, particularly against this year’s volatile backdrop?

Rombenso: Volatility is inherent to the agribusiness market, and therefore it is already part of our clients’ routine. Yet, we know the importance of managing risks to add more predictability to results and help ensure long-lasting businesses. To this end, we offer a team dedicated to agribusiness that provides a service specializing in foreign exchange management. This expertise and our portfolio of solutions are our main tools to help our clients in this context.

GF: What steps has Itaú Unibanco taken to keep itself ahead of the competition?

Rombenso: Itaú Unibanco has been working on four major fronts to keep its leading position. The first is the design in scale and the client-centric culture, with the creation of a structure dedicated to the client’s experience, defining policies, disseminating good practices, and effectively participating in the development of products. The second is integrating data and artificial intelligence [AI] into our work, and development methodology through actions to disseminate what we call data culture—using the data generated to make better decisions.

The third is a proprietary methodology for developing products with technology, operational, client experience and product multidisciplinary teams, among others, working with shared objectives in the community model. Last, [implementing] technology focused on system modernization, creating scalability and agility in developing solutions and quickly resolving failures and incidents.

GF: Where will AI fit in the global FX market?

Rombenso: We believe using AI will be transformative, generating major changes in the market. We have a couple hundred artificial intelligence initiatives being tested, focused on internal processes and customer service.

In the FX context, we see great potential for AI in helping to make our operations more efficient by eliminating or optimizing processes, making us increasingly more agile. We also see gains in the provision of support to our clients. Our strategy is focused on creating value for clients and on the sustainability and competitiveness of the business in both the short term and long term.