Banks have profited from idle cash for years. AI agents could change that.

Wall Street's latest artificial intelligence fear for US banks is that AI agents might help customers get a better deal on their cash. As Meta's (META) newly released Muse AI agent hit a viral moment earlier this week, financial and other consumer-facing stocks, including Charles Schwab (SCHW), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Booking Holdings (BKNG), Expedia Group (EXPE), and Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG), faced a fresh wave of disruption worries. The KBW Nasdaq Bank Index (^BKX) tumbled about 2.6% on Tuesday as investors grappled with the new AI threat. Bank stocks have since clawed back some of those losses.