As AI agents, IoT devices, and digital twins become active participants in economic exchange, financial institutions face a fundamental shift: their next customer segment may not be human. This report by IFZ and ZIBR analyzes the phenomenon of machine customers across four dimensions: social, technological, economic, and regulatory and identifies what capabilities, structures, and conditions banks and financial service providers will need to serve them effectively.
The report distinguishes three types of machine customers by increasing autonomy: operational systems that automate routine transactions, predictive systems that optimize based on data patterns, and strategic systems capable of negotiation and multi-party decision-making. It maps the architectural requirements for machine-ready banking platforms, explores implications for business models and competitive dynamics, and addresses open questions around legal attribution, liability, data governance, and the emerging "Know Your Machine" (KYM) paradigm. A blockchain-based prototype using the x402 payment protocol illustrates autonomous service consumption and programmable API monetization in practice.
The study was conducted in collaboration with Canton of Zug, Finnova, Finstar, Inventx, SFTI / Swiss FinTech Innovations, SIX, and Zürcher Kantonalbank.
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