Artificial intelligence is poised to reshape payments, e-commerce and banking, with digital assistants expected to make purchases on behalf of consumers and financial institutions redesigning operations around AI technologies, industry executives said at the Fintech Athens 5.0 conference.
Representatives from Google Cloud, Microsoft and NBG Pay said transactions are moving toward a future in which AI agents interact directly with merchants, payment systems and banks, reducing the need for customers to manually complete online purchases.
New era of payments
Moritz Platt, Capital Market Technology Manager at Google Cloud EMEA, said digital assistants could eventually handle purchasing processes on behalf of consumers, provided common technological standards, security safeguards and authorisation frameworks are put in place.
He argued that existing payment infrastructure was designed for a different era, with settlement processes often taking one or two days, while AI-driven commerce is expected to generate a far greater number of transactions, including micropayments.
Platt said Google was investing in blockchain-based distributed ledger infrastructure capable of supporting high transaction volumes, but stressed that the company's role was to provide technology infrastructure rather than replace banks or regulated financial institutions.
AI assistants have higher conversion rate
Microsoft's Christian Sarafidis said retailers increasingly view AI assistants as a new sales channel capable of attracting customers and boosting online commerce.
Citing Adobe research, he said customers arriving through AI-assisted channels show a 60% higher conversion rate than traditional visitors.
According to Sarafidis, the market is likely to evolve in stages, beginning with online stores adapting to AI agents, followed by direct communication between consumer and merchant assistants, and eventually fully autonomous purchasing.
Fully autonomous purchasing requires trust
However, he said the technology remains in its early stages, with relatively few transactions currently taking place despite ongoing tests involving major international card networks.
A key challenge remains trust, he said. Digital assistants such as Copilot, ChatGPT and Claude will require verifiable identities and clearly defined permissions to prevent unauthorised transactions and malicious activity.
Sarafidis pointed to JPMorgan as an example, saying the bank blocks certain interactions when it identifies an AI agent on the other side, illustrating that an industry-wide trust framework has yet to be fully established.
NBG Pay Chief Executive Christoforos Chatzopoulos said the role of payment providers is also changing as payments become increasingly integrated into the purchasing process itself.
Businesses, he said, are no longer focused solely on transaction execution and payment terminals but are seeking tools that help increase sales, improve cash flow, make better use of data and facilitate access to financing.
As a result, the point of sale is evolving from a payment acceptance mechanism into a broader business-services platform.
Chatzopoulos said consumers must continue to retain control over their personal AI assistants, while future ecosystems could involve separate agents acting on behalf of consumers, merchants and regulators.
Banks and AI
The discussion also focused on the impact of AI inside banks. Sarafidis said meaningful transformation would require institutions to redesign business processes rather than simply add new digital tools.
He cited France's Société Générale, saying the bank had reduced customer-identification and compliance staffing requirements from 1,300 external contractors to about 50 people through the use of AI agents, while improving quality and reallocating resources to other AI applications.
He also pointed to Germany's Commerzbank and its digital assistant Ava, which allows customers to access account information and initiate payment processes. Future banking products, he said, are expected to operate continuously on behalf of customers using artificial intelligence.
The overall conclusion of the discussion was that payments and banking services are entering a period of profound transformation, although security, trust and user control remain essential prerequisites for widespread adoption.
Source: AMNA
