AI agents could tilt deposit competition against banks

AI agents are emerging as a new risk that could disrupt the low-cost deposit base banks rely on to make loans. Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok warned that if households automatically move cash balances into the highest-yielding accounts, banks could face a significant loss of cheap funding.

According to Slok, the impact could extend beyond bank balance sheets to the broader financial system. Higher deposit costs are seen as one of the main factors that could weigh on banks’ lending capacity.

What is “agentic finance”?

The structure described in the source as “agentic finance” refers to systems that can execute transactions directly, rather than simply answering questions like a conventional AI tool. These agents can monitor account balances in real time, compare yields across institutions, move idle cash into higher-interest accounts, and then pull it back when bills are due.

  • Monitor balances in real time
  • Compare yields across institutions
  • Move idle cash into higher-yield accounts
  • Shift funds back when payments are due

Different estimates for the market size

Estimates for the economic scale of this space vary widely. Mordor Intelligence values the agentic AI market in financial services at $7.78 billion in 2026, and expects it to rise to $43.52 billion by 2031.

A narrower estimate from MarketsandMarkets puts the AI agents segment at a lower level. The firm says the market will reach about $845 million in 2025.

Crypto infrastructure is moving ahead on payments

The report notes that payment channels such as these AI agents will need are already being built on the crypto side. Coinbase’s x402 protocol allows AI agents to pay for online services in stablecoins within seconds, without opening an account, using a card or seeking human approval.

Usage figures released for x402

According to the reported figures, the x402 Protocol has processed roughly 188 million to more than 205 million transactions in total so far. The system is also said to have around 69,000 active agents.

Cloudflare, Google, Visa, Mastercard, AWS, Circle and Stripe are among the organizations that have joined the x402 Foundation. Governance of the foundation is now handled by the Linux Foundation.

ETF Institute co-founder Nate Geraci had previously said that AI and crypto were two major waves challenging the traditional banking model. The latest warnings suggest that deposit competition may soon play out not only between banks, but also between algorithms.