What is Autonomous Forward Payments?
Normally, a fixed forward payment lets you lock in an exchange rate today for a payment you'll make on a future date — protecting your business from exchange rate movements in the meantime.
With Autonomous Forward Payments, you can now book fixed forward payments directly on the iBanFirst platform. You can:
Access pricing directly online
Validate your forward payment in just a few clicks
Execute your forward payments any weekday — no manual validation required, even outside business hours
The objective is to provide faster execution, greater autonomy, and direct visibility over your forward pricing and execution.
Before you get started
The feature is available for clients already doing forward payments with iBanFirst.
If the feature is not yet activated on your account and you would like to use it, please contact your Account Manager.
How to book an Autonomous Fixed Forward Payment
Step 1: Go to the Forward section
Log in to the iBanFirst platform and click on Forwards in the left-side navigation menu.
Step 2: Start a new forward payment
Click on "+ New Forward" in the top right corner.
Select Fixed from the three available forward payment types.
Step 3: Accept the terms and conditions (for the first autonomous payment only)
Before your first autonomous booking, you'll need to accept a disclaimer. It contains two main points:
Collateral: As with all forward payment contracts, you may need to provide additional collateral if market conditions change during the life of the contract. This applies to manual forward payments too.
Speculative use: Autonomous Forward Payments cannot be used for speculative purposes. The feature is for FX risk management on genuine business transactions only.
These conditions are the same as for manually booked forward payments. Once accepted:
the disclaimer will not appear again for future autonomous bookings
the signed version can be found in: Settings → Documents
Step 4: Enter your forward payment details
Choose the currency you want to buy, the currency you want to sell, your amount and your value date. For autonomous fixed forward payments, the value date cannot be more than 12 months from today. Then click on Continue.
Step 5: Review and validate pricing
You'll land on a pricing page similar to the Autonomous Spot page. The rate refreshes every 12 seconds, so take a moment to review your forward pricing. On this page, if you:
Know what you want?
Click Validate to confirm your fixed forward payment instantly.
Not sure, or have questions?
Click Call me back and your Account Manager will be in touch.
Current limits
At the moment, Autonomous Fixed Forward Payments is available under the following conditions:
Currency pairs | All major G10 crosses |
Maturities | Up to 12 months |
Transaction limit | Up to 1,000,000 EUR equivalent per booking |
Booking window | Monday to Friday, even outside business hours |
Restrictions and exceptions
One direction per currency pair
Your account supports one direction per currency pair. If your account is configured to sell EUR against USD, for example, you cannot also book a buy of EUR against USD autonomously. This rule is in place to ensure the feature is used for genuine payment needs only — in line with iBanFirst's policy on speculative use.
If you have a genuine business need to book in both directions, contact your Account Manager. We'll review your situation and enable this where appropriate.
2. Need something outside the standard parameters?
If your needs fall outside the default limits — a currency pair not listed, a maturity beyond 12 months or a larger transaction amount — get in touch with your Account Manager. You can also reach out to our Customer Success team at [email protected].