Payments In The Age Of AI Agents

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller said artificial intelligence could help improve cross-border payment screening and routing, while AI agents may eventually make online purchases on consumers’ behalf. In a speech at Sibos 2026 on September 29, he also stressed that agent-led shopping remains at an early stage and will require stronger safeguards before consumers delegate payment decisions.

Waller said payments firms already use machine learning to detect fraud and large language models for tasks such as payment reconciliation. He described the industry as now helping build infrastructure for AI agents—systems that can plan and carry out multistep tasks, potentially including transactions. These applications could change how payment providers manage both routine operations and consumer purchases.

For cross-border payments, Waller pointed to sanctions screening and anti-money-laundering checks as possible areas for improvement. He cited research indicating that large language models can reduce false-positive alerts, which may let staff focus on more complex cases and reduce delays for legitimate payments. He said such models should augment, not replace, faster traditional anomaly-detection methods.

He also said AI could assist with payment routing and foreign-exchange decisions by weighing cost, speed, reliability, currency conversion and liquidity. These are potential applications, not a report of systems already delivering particular performance gains. Waller cautioned that AI can also raise cyber risks, including by helping attackers, and said payment operators face the challenge of defending interconnected systems with broad attack surfaces.

AI Could Change Payment Screening and Shopping

The speech matters because AI in payments is not limited to back-office automation. If agents gain authority to buy goods, payment systems will need to verify not only a customer’s identity but also whether an agent was authorized to make a particular purchase. That shifts attention toward consent, spending limits and accountability, alongside transaction speed and fraud detection.

For international transfers, more accurate screening or better routing could reduce friction, but the effects depend on the quality of data, system design and oversight. Waller’s remarks identify possible benefits and risks; they do not establish that AI has already made cross-border payments cheaper, faster or safer at scale. For consumers and businesses, the practical outcome will depend on how providers handle mistakes, unauthorized transactions and cyber incidents.

From Assisted Search to Delegated Purchases

Waller described two broad forms of agentic commerce. In an agent-assisted model, an AI helps a shopper search for products, while the person chooses what to buy and makes the payment. In an agent-delegated model, the consumer authorizes an agent to shop and pay within specified constraints. His example was an agent using a pre-funded virtual card to order groceries based on prior purchases.

Waller said market participants at a Federal Reserve industry roundtable broadly viewed agentic commerce as being in an early phase. Consumer-to-business transactions could be an initial use, with assisted shopping preceding more autonomous delegation. He identified general-purpose AI services and merchant-specific agents as likely ways consumers may access such tools, while noting that personal assistants could also become a channel.

The speech builds on a longer role for AI in payments, including machine-learning fraud detection and language models used in reconciliation. Waller framed the next step as a move toward agents able to act across multiple stages of a task, raising questions about how payment infrastructure will recognize and control those actions.

„I expect LLMs to augment, rather than replace, faster, more traditional anomaly detection methods.“

— Christopher J. Waller, Federal Reserve governor

Adoption and Safeguards Remain Open

Waller did not provide adoption forecasts, implementation timelines or measured cost and speed gains for AI-enabled cross-border payments. The speech also does not specify common technical standards for agent authorization, dispute handling or responsibility when an agent makes an unintended purchase. Those details remain unsettled in the material provided.

It is also unclear how widely delegated purchasing will be adopted, what limits consumers will be able to set, and how providers will verify that an agent is acting within those limits. Waller warned that AI can support cyberattacks as well as defensive work, but gave no estimate of the scale or likelihood of resulting disruptions to payment infrastructure.

Payment Firms Face Design Decisions

Waller’s speech points to work ahead for payment providers, merchants and AI companies as they develop systems for agent-assisted and delegated transactions. They will need to determine how consumers grant and revoke authority, what transaction controls apply, and how suspicious activity or disputed purchases are handled. Waller emphasized the need to build trust mechanisms and guardrails, particularly for agents able to spend autonomously.

On cross-border payments, the next developments to watch include whether providers test AI for screening, cybersecurity and routing, and what evidence they publish about its performance. The speech did not announce a Federal Reserve policy change or a specific implementation timetable. Adoption, safeguards and demonstrable results remain the key milestones.

Key Questions

What did Christopher Waller say about AI and payments?

Waller said AI could support cross-border payment screening, cybersecurity and routing, and discussed how AI agents may eventually shop and pay on a consumer’s behalf. He also warned of cybersecurity risks and the need for safeguards.

What is agentic commerce?

It is the use of AI agents in online shopping. An agent may assist with finding products while a person remains in control, or receive authority to shop and make payments within set limits.

Are AI agents already making purchases at scale?

Waller said market participants viewed agentic commerce as being in an early phase. His speech did not give adoption figures or show that delegated purchases are widespread.

How could AI affect cross-border payments?

Waller identified possible uses in sanctions and anti-money-laundering screening, cybersecurity, payment routing and foreign-exchange optimization. He did not provide measured results or claim these gains have been achieved at scale.

What remains unresolved about AI-led payments?

Questions include how consumers authorize and limit agents, who handles unintended purchases, how disputes are resolved, and how payment operators defend systems against AI-supported cyberattacks.

Source: primary