Consumers are already turning to large language models to help organize spending, savings and financial decisions. Yet most financial institutions remain structured around products, business lines and technology stacks built long before artificial intelligence agents entered the discussion. The result is a widening gap between what customers expect and what banks can deliver.
The giant advantage banks have is trust, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster and Hyperlayer CEO Rob Rooney agreed during a recent conversation. But trust alone will not be enough if institutions cannot translate insights into actions.
Rooney, who previously led infrastructure and technology operations at Morgan Stanley, noted that the industry is approaching a turning point. Thus far, AI has largely been deployed in analytics, customer service and operational efficiency. The larger opportunity emerges when AI begins acting on behalf of customers.
“‘Would you like me to do this for you?’” Rooney said, describing the next stage of banking experiences. Instead of offering advice and then directing customers to a call center or mobile app, institutions will be expected to execute the requested action directly.
That shift raises a larger question: Are banks ready?
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Rooney’s answer is straightforward.
“Banks aren’t ready. That’s kind of the reason we exist,” he said, with a nod to Hyperlayer, which positions itself as a provider of intelligent infrastructure for financial institutions as they embrace AI.
The Infrastructure Problem Isn’t the Core
For years, modernization discussions centered on replacing aging core systems. Rooney contends that framing misses the larger challenge.
“The problem is not in your core infrastructure. And the answer is also not in your core infrastructure,” he told Webster.
His argument is that bank cores perform their intended function reasonably well. They serve as accounting systems, maintain ledgers and process transactions. The difficulty arises when institutions attempt to build personalized, configurable customer experiences on top of those systems.
The challenge becomes more pronounced as financial lives spread across checking accounts, savings accounts, brokerage relationships, rewards programs, payment apps and emerging digital assets.
“We see a giant trend,” Rooney said. “People want to do more of their daily financial lives in one place.”
That fragmentation creates both a customer problem and a technology problem. Wealth platforms, banking systems, rewards ecosystems and payment networks frequently operate on separate stacks with different data structures and governance models.
Hyperlayer’s approach is to provide what Rooney describes as an orchestration layer that connects those environments without forcing institutions into lengthy replacement projects.
The goal is not merely modernization. It is enabling what Hyperlayer calls “smart accounts.”
A smart account, according to Rooney, can interact with customers, outside data sources, AI agents and multiple stores of value while remaining configurable and programmable. Rather than treating cash, rewards points, investments and other assets as separate silos, the account becomes a framework through which those assets can be managed together.
Data, Governance and the Agentic Future
The technical challenge is significant. The regulatory challenge may be even larger.
Webster noted that consumers increasingly associate AI-driven experiences with the platform delivering them rather than the merchant or provider operating behind the scenes. That dynamic could become especially important as AI agents begin shopping, making recommendations and executing purchases on behalf of customers.
For banks, that means governance becomes inseparable from innovation.
“There is a real-time data issue,” Rooney said, coupled with “all of the legal, regulatory and compliance issues.”
A customer might authorize an agent to purchase a product. If the wrong item arrives or a transaction is disputed, the institution still bears responsibility for handling the outcome. That requires approvals, controls, audit trails and data lineage capable of operating at machine speed rather than human speed.
Rooney views that reality as an advantage for banks rather than a burden.
“Banks can turn this to their advantage,” he said.
Regulation, in this view, becomes a differentiator rather than merely a compliance obligation. Financial institutions already possess frameworks for oversight, customer protection and regulatory reporting. The challenge is extending those capabilities into an environment where AI systems are involved in customer interactions and transaction decisions.
Hyperlayer’s role, Rooney said, is to operate behind those controls rather than replace them.
“We try to make them more robust by giving perfect audit trails, perfect data lineage,” he added.
The timing matters because competitive pressure is mounting.
According to Rooney, the most urgent concern among bank executives is speed to market. Product leaders recognize opportunities to launch new services, but implementation timelines frequently stretch far beyond business expectations.
“The burning fire is speed to market for product innovation,” he said.
Beyond the Chatbot
Rooney believes the industry will know AI has truly changed financial services when customers stop receiving recommendations and start seeing actions completed on their behalf.
“We will know AI will change financial services when AI is acting in financial services,” he said.
That transition will not arrive overnight. Rooney projects meaningful adoption beginning in 2027 and accelerating into 2028 as institutions connect data sources, deploy configurable account structures and establish governance frameworks capable of supporting agent-driven activity.
For banks, the question is no longer whether AI will reshape financial services. The more pressing issue is whether they can assemble the infrastructure required to keep pace with customers whose expectations are already changing.
Additional Takeaways
Hyperlayer argues that banks should focus on connecting systems and data rather than replacing existing cores. Smart accounts are designed to combine banking, rewards, investments and other stores of value into a configurable framework. Rooney expects agent-driven banking adoption to gain momentum in 2027 and accelerate through 2028.
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