Fed Governor Waller Highlights AI Agents as Future of Global Payments at Sibos 2026

At Sibos 2026 in Miami, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller stated that AI agents and autonomous systems will drive the next major evolution in global and cross-border payments. Waller outlined two models for agentic commerce: assisted, where agents search for products, and delegated, where agents execute transactions on behalf of users. He emphasized that while the delegated model offers significant potential for B2B transactions, it requires robust trust mechanisms and operational guardrails to mitigate risks. The Fed governor also noted that the payment industry's existing experience with machine learning in fraud detection provides a foundation for this shift toward autonomous economic activity.