Citigroup and Ant International launched a pilot program that uses artificial intelligence to help corporate clients manage foreign exchange risk more efficiently, the companies said on Friday.

The initiative combines Citi’s Fixed FX Rates offering — popular among clients in industries like e-commerce — with Ant International’s Falcon Time-Series Transformer, a forecasting model that aims to lower hedging costs.

The tool was first tested with aviation clients. One major Asian airline used it to hedge FX exposure on online ticket sales and reportedly cut its hedging costs by 30%, the companies said in a joint statement.

“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,” said Kelvin Li, general manager of platform tech at Ant International. “We’re now looking to roll this out with Citi to more industries.”

The pilot follows Citi’s broader push into artificial intelligence. Six months ago, the U.S. bank began rolling out AI tools to staff in eight countries, reaching 140,000 employees.

Other big banks have been experimenting with AI as well. Morgan Stanley uses a chatbot to support its wealth advisors, while Bank of America’s “Erica” virtual assistant helps retail clients manage daily transactions.

Ant International is the global arm of China’s Ant Group — the financial tech giant founded by Jack Ma — and operates across Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Ant Group’s international arm is preparing to integrate Circle’s USDC stablecoin onto its proprietary blockchain, adding a U.S.-issued digital dollar to a network that already handles over $1 trillion in payments annually.

The rollout hinges on regulatory clearance in the U.S., Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

If approved, the move would make Ant one of the largest corporate users of a U.S.-based stablecoin outside America. Around one-third of transactions on its blockchain are already settled on-chain, and the firm wants to expand further by bringing in tokenized dollars, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and digital bank deposits under one roof.

The China-linked fintech giant is also seeking stablecoin licenses in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg. The goal: build a globally compliant, always-on financial infrastructure that supports multiple flavors of digital currency.