AI Agents: The New Frontier for Banking, Insurance, and Business

Artificial intelligence is at an inflection point in Mexico and around the world. Following the rise of generative AI, a new category has emerged with the power to profoundly transform business operations: AI Agents.

These systems don’t just execute programmed tasks, they set objectives, reason, collaborate with humans or other agents, and learn continuously. In other words, we are moving from reactive AI to AI with initiative. They are digital collaborators that perceive, think, act, and learn, becoming strategic allies for any organization seeking competitiveness. Unlike traditional automation, AI agents can adapt to context, make decisions under uncertainty, and refine their performance over time, creating more resilient and efficient business ecosystems. Their ability to integrate structured and unstructured data from multiple sources allows them to provide contextual, human-like responses that continuously improve through experience, bridging the gap between human judgment and machine precision.

Banking: From Paperwork to Real-Time Service

The financial sector in Mexico faces consumers who are no longer willing to wait. They demand immediacy, personalized experiences, and security. In this space, intelligent agents are already making a difference:

• Instant digital onboarding with automated document verification.
• Real-time risk analysis, connecting internal and external databases.
• Fraud prevention through the instant identification of atypical patterns.
• Complaint and refund management in minutes, directly improving customer satisfaction.

AI agents are no longer a futuristic promise, they are today a key differentiator for banks striving to be faster and closer to their customers. By integrating them into existing infrastructures, financial institutions can process massive volumes of data, anticipate user needs, and strengthen trust through more transparent and proactive communication. This evolution also enables banks to provide hyper-personalized financial advice, automate compliance monitoring, and react instantly to market dynamics — capabilities that define the next generation of digital banking.

Insurance: Four Areas That Will Never Be the Same

According to AMIS, only between 15% and 20% of insurance companies in Mexico currently use AI in their operations. This means most have yet to capitalize on the potential of intelligent agents in critical functions:

• Policy underwriting: Risk evaluation and premium personalization in minutes.
• Claims management: Incident verification, indemnity calculation, and faster payments.
• Fraud detection: Behavioral pattern analysis to anticipate risks.
• Customer service: Contextualized responses and real-time support.

We are facing an opportunity that, if approached with vision, will redefine the relationship between insurers and their policyholders. Beyond efficiency, the adoption of AI agents opens the door to more equitable pricing models, enhanced fraud prevention, and a level of personalization that was previously unattainable. The insurance sector’s future competitiveness will depend on how effectively it blends data-driven insight with human empathy, a balance that AI agents are uniquely positioned to deliver.

Trust as a Non-Negotiable Condition

Technology alone is not enough. For AI agents to be widely adopted, they must be explainable, traceable, and transparent. Governance is not an add-on, it is a requirement. Trust is not built after development, it must be integrated from the design stage.

In critical sectors such as banking, insurance, healthcare, or energy, it’s not only about innovating but also about ensuring that automated decisions are reliable and regulatory-compliant. Establishing frameworks for responsible AI, with human oversight and accountability, will be essential to unlock sustainable adoption.

Looking Toward the Immediate Future

At SAS, we believe that explainability will be the standard of tomorrow. That is why we developed solutions — presented at SAS Innovate on Tour 2025 Mexico — such as SAS® Intelligent Decisioning on SAS® Viya®, which enable organizations to design, implement, and scale agents under three fundamental pillars:

• Reliable decision-making.
• Balance between humans and AI.
• Governance and explainability.

Explainability is not a luxury. It is the new standard for trustworthy artificial intelligence. Organizations that strategically adopt intelligent agents will not only improve their operations but also gain a decisive competitive advantage. Because in a world where speed and trust mean everything, AI agents are not optional. They are the new frontier.