Banks flag risks as AI goes shopping online

Banks are warning shoppers to be cautious when using AI agents for online purchases as India enters its festive shopping season, Business Standard reports. Major e-commerce platforms are running sales with attractive discounts, and more shoppers are using AI to find products, compare prices, and make buying decisions. Banks caution that AI agents could make mistakes, overspend, expose sensitive financial information, or direct shoppers toward payment options with weaker fraud protections. Nirmal Stephen Chander writes that "agent identity, permissions, data access, and transaction controls could become foundational infrastructure" for banks, fintechs, retailers, and platforms. Related LinkedIn posts further highlight growing industry concern: major banks such as NatWest, Bank of America, and ING have published joint warnings about AI shopping agents, while others discuss liability questions, the shift toward backend-focused retail strategies, Mastercard's agentic commerce partnership with Alchemy, and India's NPCI developing a registry to identify and monitor AI agents making payments on users' behalf.

(Source：LinkedIn)