# Banks seek to rein in soaring AI agent costs, McKinsey says

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/banks-seek-to-rein-in-soaring-ai-agent-costs-mckinsey-says/
- Published: 2026-11-10T13:32:34+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-10T21:56:08+00:00
- Original publisher: CNA (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/banks-seek-rein-in-soaring-ai-agent-costs-mckinsey-says-6539721
- Topics: AI, Technology, World

## Key points

- AI agent token costs could reach 20 per cent of banks’ labour costs.
- Banks are targeting deployments where returns justify the expense.
- 72 per cent of surveyed AI users would delegate one financial task.

## Summary

Banks are trying to control the rising cost of AI agents, as token spending could reach 20 per cent of total labour costs, according to McKinsey. The expense is prompting banks to create specialist “AI FinOps” teams and to focus deployments on uses expected to deliver the strongest returns.

Earlier cost controls that routed staff queries to different AI models do not work as well for agents, which communicate with one another and quickly use more tokens. McKinsey says agents could become widely used within three years; in its survey of 46,000 retail banking customers, 72 per cent of AI users said they would let a banking agent complete one financial task, with autonomous approvals capped at $500. Agents may raise revenue and cut costs, but could also shift deposits into higher-yield accounts and put pressure on profits.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.