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Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller used a September 29 Sibos speech to discuss how AI could affect cross-border payment security and efficiency, and how AI agents might make online purchases. He said agentic commerce remains at an early stage and that delegated purchasing will require stronger trust mechanisms and safeguards.
Waller said large language models (LLMs) could improve sanctions screening and anti-money-laundering systems by reducing false-positive alerts, citing research on the technology. That could let analysts focus on more complex cases and allow legitimate payments to proceed with less friction. He said LLMs would augment faster, traditional anomaly-detection methods rather than replace them.
He also described possible uses of AI in cybersecurity and cross-border payment routing. AI tools could help detect threats, manage exposure and identify software vulnerabilities, Waller said, while also potentially enabling cyberattacks to become more sophisticated. For international transfers, AI agents could help weigh routing options and decisions about foreign exchange conversion and liquidity, if given suitable data and criteria.
Waller outlined two forms of agentic commerce. In agent-assisted shopping, the consumer uses an agent for search and discovery but makes the decisions and payment. In agent-delegated shopping, the consumer gives an agent authority to shop and pay within set constraints—for example, using a pre-funded virtual card to buy groceries based on past purchases. Waller said consumer-to-business purchases are expected to be an early use case, with assisted shopping preceding more autonomous delegation.
AI Could Change Payment Screening and Shopping
If these applications work reliably at scale, AI could affect both the movement of money between countries and the way consumers make purchases. Better screening could reduce manual reviews of legitimate payments, while routing optimization could help providers balance cost, speed and reliability. These are potential benefits described by Waller, not outcomes he said have already been established across payment systems.
Delegated shopping also shifts a consequential decision: an agent may choose a product and initiate payment without the buyer handling each step. That makes the scope of the buyer’s authority, the controls on spending and the handling of unintended purchases central to whether consumers and merchants can trust the model.
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From Payment AI to Agentic Commerce
Waller said the payments industry has used machine learning for fraud prevention and was an early adopter of large language models for tasks such as payment reconciliation. His Sibos speech built on remarks he gave at the conference the previous year about emerging technologies and global payments, narrowing the focus this time to AI.
Earlier in the summer, Waller hosted an industry roundtable at the Federal Reserve on agentic commerce. He said participants broadly viewed the market as being in an early phase, though it could reshape commerce and payments if adoption grows. Consumers may encounter agents through general-purpose AI services or merchant-specific tools; Waller also suggested personal AI assistants could become another route.
““I expect LLMs to augment, rather than replace, faster, more traditional anomaly detection methods.””
— Christopher J. Waller, Federal Reserve governor, at Sibos 2026
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Adoption and Safeguards Remain Open
Waller did not specify when agent-delegated commerce might become common, how quickly consumers would adopt it or which technical and policy safeguards would be adopted. His speech describes possible applications and risks; it does not establish that AI has already produced system-wide improvements in cross-border payment speed, cost or security.
The source speech text provided for this article ends mid-sentence while discussing the real-time knowledge agents need. It therefore does not establish Waller’s further remarks on that point or any additional proposals he may have made.
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Trust Controls Will Shape Agent Purchases
The next developments will depend on how AI firms, merchants, payment providers and consumers build and test the controls needed for agents to act within delegated limits. Waller said the delegated model requires a more extensive buildout of trust mechanisms and guardrails because it carries a higher risk of unintended purchases.
For cross-border payments, providers and system operators will also need to assess AI’s performance in screening, cybersecurity and routing. Waller urged the industry to move deliberately as it uses AI to strengthen payment-system safety; his speech did not set a timetable or announce a specific implementation plan.
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Key Questions
What did Waller say about AI and cross-border payments?
He said AI could help reduce false-positive alerts in sanctions and anti-money-laundering screening, support cybersecurity work and optimize payment routing, foreign exchange conversion and liquidity decisions. He described these as potential applications.
What is the difference between agent-assisted and agent-delegated commerce?
In agent-assisted shopping, a person uses an agent to find products but makes the decisions and pays. In agent-delegated shopping, the person authorizes an agent to shop and pay within specified constraints.
Is agentic commerce already widespread?
Waller characterized it as being in an early phase. He said adoption could reshape commerce and payments if it scales, but did not provide adoption figures or a timeline.
What risks did Waller identify?
He warned that AI could increase the volume and sophistication of cyberattacks and said delegated shopping raises the risk of unintended purchases. He called for deliberate efforts to strengthen payment-system safety and more trust mechanisms and guardrails for delegated commerce.
Source: primary
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