When AI Agents Do the Switching, Inertia Stops Paying
When software can switch customers for them, businesses that profit from inertia have to compete on value.
In late September, Meta's new AI agent, Muse, went viral. It connects through Plaid to more than 12,000 banks and financial apps, reads balances, transactions and investments, and suggests moves like cancelling subscriptions or paying down debt. Investors drew the obvious conclusion: an agent that can see where your cash sits and where it could earn more won't stay an advisor for long. The KBW Nasdaq Bank Index fell about 2.6% in a day. Brokerages and travel sites were hit too.
This week the big U.S. banks answered on their earnings calls, and they didn't agree. JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon said the bank uses agents internally and will offer them to customers, but won't let just any outside agent into its systems, and warned there could be thousands of rogue ones. Bank of America is working with agent providers on a setup where a human approves before money leaves an account. Wells Fargo called fears of agents driving mass deposit flight overdone and is building its own.
JPMorgan is right to build the wall, for now
There are two problems with letting outside agents inside a regulated business. The first is security. An agent that holds a customer's login is one more way in for anyone who wants that data. JPMorgan says it is already blocking agents that ask customers for their credentials.
The second is harder: who carries the blame when the agent gets it wrong? An agent moving money based on parameters a customer set months ago isn't a person making a decision. If it shifts savings into the wrong product, or acts on a rule nobody remembers setting, someone has to answer for it. JPMorgan's CFO said that if an agent acts against a customer's wishes, the customer bears the risk. Most customers have no idea that's the deal.
The wall probably won't hold forever. Customers will want this, and Bank of America's approval step shows a middle path. But a lot has to exist before most organizations can fully open up to third-party agents: a way to verify which agent is acting and for whom, clear consent rules, settled liability, and an audit trail that shows what the agent did and why.
Who lives on inertia
Banking, subscriptions, insurance and health care all share something. Customers stay put far longer than price alone would explain. Some of that is real need; nobody gets to skip insurance. But a lot of it is switching costs: the comparing, the paperwork, the worry about getting it wrong. That's what lets a bank pay little on checking balances, or a subscription auto-renew at a higher price without losing many people.
Agents don't change whether you need the product. They change how hard it is to change who you buy it from. When switching gets cheap, the margin that came from customers not bothering is up for grabs. It has happened before, slowly: when rates rose in 2023, Schwab customers moved billions into money market funds, and Schwab's profits fell that year. An agent could make that kind of shift faster and automatic.
Hype or real?
A real shift within two years is plausible, but it won't be a free-for-all. In banking and insurance, expect agents to work inside tighter permissions, approvals and regulation, not around them. It hasn't shown up in the numbers yet. A Bank of America analyst noted that the proof will be banks paying more to hold deposits. Still, Citi, PNC and Bank of America have all launched savings incentives to keep customer cash, which suggests the banks aren't waiting to find out.
What leaders should do now
This goes well beyond banks.
1. Find where you profit from friction. List the revenue that depends on customers not comparing, not cancelling or not re-shopping. Most leadership teams have never named it.
2. Set your agent policy before your customers set it for you. Decide which outside agents you'll allow, what they can see, what needs a human to approve, and who is liable when something goes wrong. Wall, door or door with a guard: pick one on purpose.
3. Make staying the better deal. The banks that sounded calmest this week pointed to reasons customers stay beyond price: everyday payments, trust and service. Rebuild the customer journeys most at risk around those, and make sure the experience actually earns the loyalty.
4. Keep humans on the decisions that matter. Automate the routine, but put a person wherever a wrong move costs the customer real money.
Inertia has been one of the quietest sources of profit in business. AI agents are about to put a price on it. The organizations that come out ahead will be the ones customers would choose again, even when switching takes no effort at all.
Agents don't change whether you need the product. They change how hard it is to change who you buy it from.
Wondering how much of your revenue depends on customers not shopping around? Let's talk.
Sources
Yahoo Finance · FF News · Forbes · CIO Dive · JPMorgan call · Bank of America call · Wells Fargo call