Banks Say Consumers Unsure AI Agents Are on Their Side

A group of global banks has issued a warning about safety risks tied to agentic commerce.

That warning came as part of a set of principles published Tuesday (Sept. 22) by six banks — ASB Bank, Bank of America, Capital One, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ING and NatWest — and designed to create a framework for artificial intelligence (AI) agents in commerce.

“With banks sitting at the heart of the payments ecosystem, connecting consumers, businesses and merchants, and supporting millions of payment interactions every day, the participating firms have teamed up to produce principles for the future development of agentic commerce,” NatWest said in announcing the project.

The banks say these principles aim to support the “responsible development” of agentic commerce, to give customers and merchants choice, control and flexibility in how they pay and get paid, while making sure these transactions are safe and secure.

“Consumers are unclear if AI agents will act in their interests,” the report said. “They are concerned that AI agents may buy the wrong thing or spend too much — or even worse, lose their money to scams and fraud. They are not sure whether they will be protected or who they will need to go to if things go wrong.”