AI agents integrate direct bank and payment connections

Developments in AI agent technology are enabling seamless financial transactions within chat interfaces. Decagon, a US-based company specializing in AI customer service agents, has partnered with Plaid to allow consumers to connect their bank accounts directly during a conversation. This integration allows agents to resolve failed payments, disputed charges, and connection issues without requiring the user to leave the chat to authenticate on a separate screen. The connection persists across multiple sessions, allowing agents to handle long-term tasks like insurance claims or loan requests.

In Brazil, Itaú Unibanco has introduced a solution through Rede that enables AI agents to process online payments within chat environments. This technology aims to facilitate agentic commerce, where users can research, compare, and complete purchases without switching applications. The system adapts AI agent protocols to payment interfaces, initially supporting credit card transactions. To ensure security, the bank is working on integrations using tokenization so that AI agents do not have access to full card details.