Fed's Waller Addresses AI Agents' Role in Payment Systems

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller delivered remarks at Sibos 2026 in Miami, Florida, addressing the growing influence of artificial intelligence agents on payment systems and the financial infrastructure that supports them. The speech placed the Fed squarely in the conversation about how autonomous AI systems are beginning to interact with — and potentially transform — the mechanics of how money moves.

Waller's appearance at Sibos, one of the financial industry's premier global gatherings, signals the central bank's continued attention to technological disruption in payments. AI agents — software systems capable of executing tasks autonomously on behalf of users or institutions — are increasingly being explored as tools that could initiate, authorize, and settle transactions without direct human intervention at each step.

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The implications for oversight, security, and monetary policy transmission are significant. As AI-driven automation accelerates in financial services, regulators and central banks face new questions about accountability, fraud prevention, and systemic risk when machine-generated instructions move funds across networks at scale and speed that outpace traditional controls.

While the full text of Waller's remarks was delivered at the Miami conference, the speech reflects a broader Federal Reserve engagement with innovation in payments infrastructure, including topics such as digital assets, real-time payments, and the evolving role of intermediaries in a more automated financial system.

Continue reading at FRB: Speeches for the complete text of Governor Waller's address.