Agentic banking

The banking software company Backbase defines agentic AI in banking as a combination of an AI model, business context, connected tools and workflow logic. The workflow decides when to stop, escalate or ask for approval, and that coordination is what generative AI that only writes text and automation with a fixed sequence lack.

Backbase lists use cases such as document checks in onboarding and lending, answers about the status of a payment and evidence for card disputes. Gartner forecast in June 2025 that more than 40 percent of agentic AI projects across industries could be canceled by the end of 2027, because of costs, unclear value or weak risk controls.

Lloyds Banking Group announced the first agentic AI financial assistant in the United Kingdom for its 21 million mobile app customers from early 2026. The assistant is meant to answer questions about spending, saving and investing inside the regulated environment of the bank.

Banks that open their accounts to outside agents need to know who acts. That is the subject of know your agent, the check of identity and mandate for software agents.

In March 2026 Banco Santander completed a payment executed by an AI agent through its live payment systems with Mastercard Agent Pay. In June 2026 ING and Worldline followed with a production payment for an ING cardholder in the Netherlands, approved by the customer.

The IMF note of April 2026 splits agentic payments into intent, authorization and settlement. The authors see a tension between the probabilistic behavior of AI and the deterministic requirements of payment systems.

The EU AI Act classifies AI systems that assess the creditworthiness of natural persons as high-risk, and that applies to agents in lending as well. The Digital Operational Resilience Act has applied since 17 January 2025 and covers the ICT providers, AI providers included, that a bank depends on.

Payments by agents also need strong customer authentication, which assumes that a person confirms the payment. Banks therefore start with agents that ask the customer before they pay, as in the pilots of Santander and ING.

Agentic banking is banking in which AI agents complete tasks in several steps, inside the bank or for its customers. The bank sets what the agent may do alone and where a person approves.

Generative AI writes text or answers questions when a person asks for it. Agentic AI plans steps, uses systems of the bank and adapts the next step to the result, for example when it traces a payment.

Lloyds Banking Group announced an agentic financial assistant for its app customers. Santander and ING completed card payments started by AI agents, both with Mastercard Agent Pay.