10/16/2026

FIS Sees Smarter Payments Powering AI Agents

PYMNTS

Fall brings football, starting lineups and plenty of arguments over who deserves the first pick.

Mike Magennis, senior director of Strategy, Networks at FIS, said he already knows what he would take first in a payments and artificial intelligence draft: transaction intelligence.

His long-term roster is more complicated.

AI agents could eventually move beyond finding products and helping consumers shop to deciding how to pay for a purchase, he said. That could require choosing among cards and other payment methods after considering rewards, offers, eligibility, risk and the circumstances of the transaction. Magennis said he sees considerable potential there, although he isn’t ready to give autonomous purchasing a starting job.

“As an AI agent begins to assist with purchasing decisions, the payment ecosystem has to make that value chain machine readable,” Magennis said. “An agent needs to understand not just whether a payment credential works, but which choice delivers the best relevant outcome for that consumer.”

Magennis spoke with PYMNTS for the September edition of What’s Next in Payments. “The Fall Draft: Who Makes the Starting Lineup for Payments and AI?” uses the return of football season to ask payments executives to assemble a 2027 roster. What deserves a first-round pick? What is ready for production? What belongs on the bench? Where should companies stop spending? Which capabilities could remain important over the next five years?