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Fed's Waller sees transformative potential in AI payments

Federal Reserve Governor Waller highlights AI's role in speeding up payments and enhancing fraud detection while warning of regulatory risks.

Curated by Financing Your Way from original reporting by American Banker — Top News. Summary is AI-assisted and editorially reviewed — see our editorial standards.

FYWBy Financing Your Way EditorialSeptember 29, 2026

Artificial intelligence is set to reshape how your customers pay and how you approve them for credit. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller recently highlighted that AI's biggest impact will likely be in back-office operations and fraud detection. For retailers and service providers, this means the 'pipes' connecting your checkout to the bank are getting faster and more secure. AI can process vast amounts of data in real-time to spot a fraudulent transaction before it even processes, reducing your headache with chargebacks and disputes. Beyond security, AI is changing the credit approval game. By analyzing non-traditional data points, AI-driven lenders can potentially approve more customers who might have been rejected by old-school credit scoring models. This expands your reachable customer base. However, the Fed also warns of 'black box' risks. If an AI model denies a customer for a loan at your register, the lender must be able to explain why to stay compliant with fair lending laws. As an operator, you should expect your financing partners to lean heavily into AI to lower their costs, which could eventually lead to lower merchant fees or more aggressive promotional financing offers for your shoppers.

Source: American Banker — Top News

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