NatWest Bank uses artificial intelligence (AI) software to modernize trade finance processes and improve identification of potential financial crimes.
The bank is working with Cleareye.ai to enable check automation for complex trade documents. The software automatically checks that transactions comply with the International Chamber of Commerce’s ICC rules and provides AI-driven transaction-based money laundering (TBML) checks.
Trade finance transactions often involve large international payments and traditionally require many participants and manual checking of large amounts of documentation. Trade finance includes tools, techniques and instruments to facilitate trade and protect buyers and sellers from risk.
Michael Gillham, Commercial and Institutional Trade Products Lead at NatWest, said: “This technology will help our business customers trade in overseas markets faster and more reliably. It will also strengthen protection against fraud and financial crime by leveraging innovative technology to enable us to better serve our customers.”
The bank said this was part of its “focus on building operational resilience, adopting advanced technology and staying ahead of regulatory demands in a complex global trade environment.”
NatWest Bank recently revealed that this will be the year that artificial intelligence (AI) brings real change for customers and employees, saying AI is at the heart of its plans and that the technology will be deployed “at scale” across the company in 2025.
Key figures for 2025 show that the bank’s software engineers generated 35% of its code through AI software development tools, and all 60,000 staff now have access to AI productivity software, saving thousands of hours of work. The bank also launched a major partnership with AI supplier OpenAI last year.
NatWest is not the first major UK bank to use Cleareye.ai to automate trade finance. In 2024, Lloyds Bank signed a contract with the company to carry out automated checks on digital and paper-based documents in trade.
The use of AI in banks’ trade finance operations is an example of how deep this technology currently is and how far it can go further. While chatbots serving customers attract most of the headlines, there is a huge demand for this technology across the complexities of banking.
Please also read: NatWest welcomes progress after spending £1.2bn on technology last year, but real AI transformation is yet to come.
This is also an example of an area where a huge number of roles in banking could be eliminated or transformed by the introduction of AI.
A recent study by Zopa and Juniper Research found that generative AI (GenAI) could save 187 million labor hours, primarily in back-office roles, and eliminate 27,000 jobs by 2030.
For example, Commerzbank recently announced that it would cut 3,000 jobs, or about 8% of its workforce, as it ramps up its AI investments, set at €600 million over the next four years. The bank expects to generate added value of EUR 500 million annually from 2030 onwards through AI investments.
Banks today are benefiting greatly from AI with services from Lloyds Banking Group. Financial institution sentiment survey towards 2025found that 59% of companies surveyed reported productivity gains from AI in the past 12 months, compared to 32% in 2024.
Banks also reported increasing benefits from AI in other areas. The survey found that 21% of respondents believe AI is directly driving business growth (compared to 8% in the survey a year ago).
Meanwhile, a third (33%) of respondents said AI is improving the customer experience, up from 14% in the previous survey. The same number of people say they are gaining deeper customer insights through AI, up from 18% in last year’s survey.
