Lynn Johannson, Advisor, Sustainability and ESG
January 4th, 2024
Lynn Johannson, President of E2 Management Corporation and Catalyst for THE Collaboration
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AI Concierge Tech and the Future of Finance
AI Innovation | April 4, 2025
Image: Unsplash/Solen Feyissa
Amazon’s 'Buy for Me' Innovation Extends What Digital Assistants Can Do, and Finance May Be Next
On April 3 2025, Amazon quietly rolled out a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature called 'Buy for Me'. That is if a user finds an item that they want on another retailer's site, Amazon's agentic AI on its app will complete the purchase on the user's behalf, handling all the details such as checkout, payment, and even delivery tracking.
Buy for Me is currently available on both iOS and Android for a limited number of U.S. customers. Amazon plans to test with a limited number of brand stores and products and then intends to roll the offering out to more customers and incorporate more third party brand stores and products based on iterative feedback.
See: How PhD-Level AI Agents Will Change Financial Services
This isn't just about shopping convenience. It's Amazon extending it's AI concierge systems beyond its own moat and walls and into the open web. It acts as a secure authorized buying agent for users and goes beyond giving suggestions and 'gets things done'. This is where things can get interesting for financial services.
What If Finance Worked the Same Way?
Imagine an AI concierge that doesn’t just show you your bank balances, but it can move money between your accounts, negotiate better rates, or automatically file your taxes when it’s time on your behalf.
You wouldn't have to log into five different apps to manage investments, savings, loans, and bills because you could simply as your AI assistant 'Finance for Me'.
“Can you move $500 from savings into my RRSP and check if there’s a better mortgage rate than I’m getting now?”
And it would.
Smart financial AI is proactive and not meant to be a dashboard with traffic lighting that shows you how much you spent at restaurants last month. It would be designed to be your go to problem solver on all things finance, securely and in real-time able to iterate and execute tasks across different fintech companies and institutions on your behalf.
From Shopping Assistant to Financial Concierge
'Finance for Me' could remove the complexities and taboo that's often associated with dealing and managing money. Here's just a few examples of how such an agentic AI assistant could help you:
- Better Mortgage Rates - Your AI could check for competitive interest rates across lenders (plus evaluate qualitative perks) and even handle the paperwork on your behalf if you decide to switch.
- Automatic Tax Planning - As you spend, earn, and invest, the assistant could optimize deductions and pre-populate your tax returns.
- Smarter Investing - Whether you're building a portfolio or just starting to dip your toes into markets and figure out how best to use your TFSA or RRSP, your 'Finance for Me' assistant could track fees, rebalance your accounts, and move funds for you all in real-time and based on your goals.
- Family Finances - For couples, families or caregivers, an advanced AI assistant could design and track a shared budget, make regular RESP contributions, and handle short, intermediate and longer term financial planning, according to your goals and risk tolerate.
- Active Small Business Support - Entrepreneurs could delegate tasks to a business version of 'Finance for Me' that could forecast cash flows, make vendor payments, or remit your GST payments on your behalf.
Yes, all of the above could happen in the near future with full consent, transparent and clear logs, and security safeguards.
See: FSB’s Warnings of Hidden Stakes of AI in Finance
Open Banking standards would enable connections to be made securely. Regulators and lawmakers would need to create a responsible agentic AI framework and all transactions would have to be compliant and in regulatory alignment...but it's technically possible or getting closer to that reality (on a ridiculous curve of innovation and disruption).
Why It Matters
Canada's financial ecosystem is full of great tools but they remain siloed, reactive (not predictive/proactive), and are often out of reach to those without deeper pockets, knowledge, and time. A 'Finance for Me' AI dedicated to optimizing finance on your behalf would be a game-changer and truly democratize financial capabilities. Amazon's 'Buy for Me' innovation is just at the beginning of the 'let me delegate that to my AI assistant curve. Fintechs, banks, and regulators should be eyes wide open.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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