The world of personal finance is evolving fast. We’re moving beyond traditional ideas like financial literacy and shifting toward financial health, a measurable, data-driven approach to improving people’s lives. At the centre of this transformation lies Agentic AI, a new generation of intelligent, autonomous technology reshaping how consumers manage money and how institutions serve them.
In a recent conversation on the Visa Direct Money Travels Podcast, Jennifer Tescher, founder and CEO of the Financial Health Network, explained why this change is not just philosophical, it’s the foundation of a new, technology-powered business model.
Why financial literacy isn’t enough anymore
For years, the financial industry focused on education. Essentially, if people just learned how to manage money, they’d make better decisions. But as Tescher notes, “Knowing and doing are often very different things.”
Everyone knows they should save and budget but it isn’t always that simple. Competing priorities, irregular income, and financial stress often get in the way. The future isn’t about more education, it’s now become about real-time, actionable support.
Imagine getting a helpful alert at the grocery store warning that a purchase might trigger an overdraft. That’s financial health in action.
What is financial health?
The Financial Health Network defines financial health as a person’s ability to build resilience and thrive, not just to simply survive from paycheck to paycheck. It’s like a financial “vital sign,” providing a complete picture of someone’s money life.
It’s measured across four key areas:
- Spending: Paying bills on time and managing expenses.
- Saving: Building short- and long-term savings.
- Borrowing: Managing debt responsibly and maintaining a good credit score.
- Planning: Preparing for the future with insurance, protection, and financial planning.
This holistic approach goes far beyond financial know-how, it measures outcomes that truly matter.
Al that tailors your finances into personalized banking
The next frontier in finance combines Open Banking (data) with Agentic AI (intelligence) to create hyper-personalized, automated experiences. This is what Tescher calls “serving a customer of one.” This isn’t about getting personalized marketing emails, it’s about empowerment through automation.
Agentic AI is much more than a chatbot. It’s a financial co-pilot capable of understanding your complete financial picture, anticipating needs, and even taking beneficial actions on your behalf.
An example of this would be an AI agent that automatically sweeps extra funds from your current account into a high-yield savings account every night, automatically maximizing your money effortlessly. Tescher notes that this kind of automation brings financial empowerment to the masses.
The path to the “Financial co-pilot”
With great potential comes real responsibility. Tescher admits she’s “as scared as the next person” about the risks of AI, but those risks can potentially be managed through thoughtful design and governance.
Key challenges include:
- Reducing bias: AI must be trained on inclusive, representative data that reflects all consumers, including those relying on government benefits or non-traditional income sources.
- Earning trust: Financial AI agents must start small with transparent, permission-based features that deliver clear, immediate value. Over time, consistent positive experiences will build lasting trust.
Why financial health is good for business
Financial institutions have a strong incentive to care about customer well-being. Tescher believes it’s not just ethical, it’s profitable.
Research from the Financial Health Network shows that financially healthy customers are:
- More loyal and engaged.
- More likely to use multiple products from the same institution.
- Less likely to default or churn.
By helping customers thrive, banks create a stronger, more resilient portfolio, a “better book of business” that benefits both the customer and the business.
The future of finance with Agentic AI
After more than two decades of advocacy, Tescher sees the biggest success is now a fundamental shift in perspective. Rather than financial health being optional, it has now evolved to become a mainstream business priority.
This vision is being rapidly accelerated by global leaders like Visa, who are actively building the digital rails for this new era. Visa's initiatives in Agentic Commerce are laying the groundwork for the "library of financial standards" which are a set of shared design principles for common products like credit cards and loans, all optimized for positive customer outcomes.
The future of finance hinges on this combination. Focusing on financial health won't be a marketing strategy, it will be the basis of competition itself. Success will mean creating a world where every customer has easy access to the data, tools, and AI agents they need to truly thrive financially.