AI and agentic commerce
How lenders, networks and fintechs use AI, and AI agents that shop and pay.
19 items in 12 issues, Oct 25, 2026 to Nov 9, 2026, newest first. Each item links to the issue it ran in, where its sources are listed.
Related: Fraud and underwritingRegulation and policyPayments and networksFintech and new entrantsDeals and fundingVisaJPMorgan ChaseCredit trends
November 2026
- Mon, Nov 9 · Worth a read
State AGs step up. American Banker's Kate Berry reports that Democrats flipped five attorney general seats for a 29-22 majority next year. Berry writes that those offices are likely to focus on pocketbook issues such as hidden fees and algorithmic pricing, with AI also on their list. It is worth reading as a map of where state enforcement is likely to land as the CFPB pulls back.
Read in the issue → - Mon, Nov 9 · Worth a read
Agents at the door. Banking Dive's Caitlin Mullen talks with Socure CEO Johnny Ayers about why JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citi have blocked AI agents from customer accounts. Socure says it works with 19 of the top 20 U.S. banks. The piece lays out the liability questions in plain terms, and Ayers expects lenders to set clear protocols in about six months.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Nov 8 · The week ahead
Fed speakers. Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman speaks on community banking Monday at 8:40 a.m. ET and on supervision and regulation Friday at 10:50 a.m. ET. Gov. Christopher Waller gives an economic outlook in London on Tuesday, and Gov. Michael Barr speaks on AI and inequality Thursday at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Nov 8 · Worth a read
Payments are the new ads. Simon Taylor argues that AI shopping agents break today's virtual-card workarounds, setting up a race between bank-issued network tokens and agent-held stablecoin balances. His case is that payment economics could replace ad revenue as agents pull spending away from ad-supported platforms.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Nov 8 · Worth a read
Agents aren't ready. Fortune's Jeff John Roberts reports that Visa ran 22 AI agents through test purchases and found they succeeded only about 57% of the time. It is a sober counterweight to the agentic-commerce pitch that ran through this quarter's fintech earnings calls.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Nov 8 · Worth a read
Google's wallet plans. Payments Dive's Justin Bachman talks with Google payments chief Stavan Parikh about turning the wallet into a home for receipts, refunds and offers. Parikh also casts the wallet as the credential layer AI agents will use to pay.
Read in the issue → - Sat, Nov 7 · Interest earned
Merchant-paid 0%. About one million products in the Affirm app now carry brand-funded promotions, and CEO Max Levchin expects 0% volume to grow as Affirm builds tools for AI shopping agents.
Read in the issue → - Sat, Nov 7 · Worth a read
Seven themes. Marc Rubinstein boils more than 300 Net Interest posts down to seven themes, from AI as a financing story to banks that keep lending while consumer sentiment sits near record lows. A compact map of where finance is heading.
Read in the issue → - Fri, Nov 6 · Earnings
Affirm. Affirm shares fell more than 4% before the open even as it beat forecasts and raised its fiscal 2027 GMV outlook to more than $65.25 billion. Fiscal first-quarter GMV rose 33% to $14.4 billion and revenue reached $1.26 billion, but Truist flagged "concerns around the credit allowance" and a second-quarter GMV guide of $17.9 billion to $18.2 billion that it called "more conservative than usual." CEO Max Levchin called credit "job number zero" on the Nov. 5 call. Management tied the higher provisions to September approval and origination experiments kept on its balance sheet and said they are reserved appropriately. Levchin said a new transformer model could add 2 to 3 percentage points of approvals with essentially no added loss. Funding costs rose 27 basis points from the prior quarter, partly on seasonality, though more than 70% of on-balance-sheet funding is fixed rate and a recent ABS deal was more than four times oversubscribed. More than 80% of Affirm Card loans have historically been interest-bearing. About one million products in the Affirm app already carry brand-funded promotions, and Levchin expects 0% volume to grow in agentic commerce as Affirm builds APIs for shopping agents.
Read in the issue → - Fri, Nov 6 · Worth a read
Agents vs. inertia. A Fintech Takes podcast recap asks whether big banks that block outside AI agents will fall behind fintechs that welcome them. "Most banks profit off inertia, and personal agents are inertia-dissolving machines," Johnson writes.
Read in the issue → - Thu, Nov 5 · Policy & enforcement
OCC on AI. The OCC issued a supervisory framework for bank use of super intelligence, saying it is not a separate risk category and does not need its own risk appetite. Expectations stay technology-neutral, so banks can fold AI underwriting and fraud tools into existing model risk programs.
Read in the issue → - Wed, Nov 4 · Cards & payments
Google wallet. Google is pushing its wallet into the post-purchase moment: it plans to add receipts, order tracking, refunds and merchant offers, and has built ways to give AI shopping agents limited credentials, payments chief Stavan Parikh told Payments Dive.
Read in the issue → - Tue, Nov 3 · Banks & charters
AI controls. Goldman Sachs restricted traders and bankers from using some AI tools, Bloomberg reported Monday.
Read in the issue → - Mon, Nov 2 · Cards & payments
AI agents. Plaid payments head Brian Dammeir says AI shopping agents could shift spending toward bank payments, even as five of the largest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Citi, block outside AI agents from customer accounts over fraud and liability concerns.
Read in the issue → - Mon, Nov 2 · Worth a read
Card disputes. Fintech Business Weekly's podcast (Oct 28) with Decisionly CEO Pallavi Kuppa-Apte covers dispute rules, agentic commerce and auditing AI decisions.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Nov 1 · The week ahead
Upstart, Oportun. Both report Tue Nov 3: reads on AI underwriting and near-prime installment credit quality.
Read in the issue →
October 2026
- Sat, Oct 31 · Fintech & funding
Overwatch Data. Raised a $15M Series A led by Mouro Capital, with Visa Ventures and Capital One Ventures investing strategically, for AI-driven fraud and risk intelligence.
Read in the issue → - Thu, Oct 29 · Credit & the economy
Q3 GDP 3.4%. The advance estimate shows the economy grew at a 3.4% annual rate in Q3, above the 3.0% consensus and up from 2.2% in Q2. Consumer spending rose 3.8%. Business investment outside housing grew 12.7%, led by a 37.4% jump in information-processing equipment tied to AI build-outs.
Read in the issue → - Sun, Oct 25 · Cards & payments
Amex AI push. Amex is applying AI across servicing, operations and product. It is pursuing agentic commerce, where AI agents shop and check out, and has an AI-powered payroll product due in early 2027. It acquired AI firm Hyper earlier in 2026.
Read in the issue →