Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the cards and payments industry, making transactions faster, safer, and more personalised. As digital wallets, contactless payments, and real-time transaction systems grow globally, AI is becoming a core driver of innovation. Today, this evolution is entering a new phase with the rise of agentic AI—intelligent systems capable of autonomous, goal-directed action that can make decisions, learn from outcomes, and adapt without human input.
Fraud prevention has always been a critical concern for payment providers. Traditional systems rely on pre-set rules, which can miss new types of fraud or trigger unnecessary alerts. AI, especially in its agentic form, is more adaptive. It not only identifies unusual patterns but can act in real time—flagging suspicious activity, freezing compromised accounts, and triggering additional authentication—all without waiting for manual reviews.
Agentic AI systems can also collaborate across networks, detecting coordinated fraud across multiple platforms. These systems continuously learn, update their models instantly, and improve detection accuracy while reducing false positives, ensuring legitimate transactions proceed smoothly.
Modern consumers expect personalised, intuitive financial services. AI makes this possible by analysing spending habits, preferences, and even life events to offer relevant product suggestions or spending insights. But agentic AI takes this further.
Instead of just offering recommendations, these AI agents can act on behalf of users. For example, they might automatically choose the best card for a transaction to maximise rewards, shift funds between accounts to avoid overdrafts, or suggest and initiate a savings plan based on monthly spending. These agents don’t just react—they proactively manage financial tasks in line with user goals and preferences.
Real-time payment systems are now essential, with users expecting instant, error-free transactions. Agentic AI helps make this possible by optimising payment routing, predicting network congestion, and ensuring liquidity across accounts—all in the background.
Such AI systems can autonomously select the best path for a payment based on speed, cost, and reliability. In complex environments like cross-border transactions, agentic AI manages currency conversions, compliance requirements, and settlement risks without human intervention, improving efficiency and transparency.
AI chatbots have already enhanced customer service by providing instant support for common queries. However, with agentic AI, these assistants evolve into financial agents—capable of taking meaningful actions rather than just responding to questions.
Imagine telling your assistant, “I’m traveling to Spain tomorrow,” and it automatically enables international payments, suggests travel insurance, checks for foreign transaction fees, and informs your bank’s fraud system. This level of autonomous service radically enhances convenience and customer engagement.
Payments processing involves numerous behind-the-scenes workflows—from reconciliation and compliance to chargeback handling. AI already automates many of these tasks, but agentic AI can go further by managing them.
These systems can detect inefficiencies, redesign workflows, and implement improvements independently. For example, if recurring issues arise with transaction failures, an AI agent can analyse root causes, adjust protocols, and even communicate updates to support teams—streamlining operations and cutting costs.
As regulatory expectations grow, financial institutions must ensure not just compliance, but explainability. Agentic AI offers built-in auditing capabilities, tracking every decision and offering justifications in human-readable formats. This helps meet regulations like PSD2 and GDPR while building trust with users and regulators alike.
The cards and payments industry is not just digitising—it’s becoming autonomous. With the rise of agentic AI, systems now go beyond prediction to decision-making, self-management, and proactive service delivery. From fraud prevention and customer experience to risk management and compliance, AI is redefining every aspect of how value moves.
As we move forward, the financial institutions that embrace agentic AI won’t just offer better services—they’ll pioneer the next era of intelligent, self-directed finance. The future of payments is not just smart—it’s agentic. And it’s already here.
Vivek Dwivedi is Regional Head – Cards and Payments, Financial Services at Infosys
“AI in cards and payments: Revolutionising the future of transactions” was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand.
The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
