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| Source: Experian landing page. Three quarters of respondents would be comfortable using AI related to a trusted financial provider. |
Conducted by Forrester Consulting, the study of 6,247 credit-active consumers across 13 EMEA and Asia Pacific markets found that more than half (54%; 49% in Singapore) of respondents are comfortable with AI agents applying for credit on their behalf.
Experian said the findings point to the next stage in the evolution of financial services, where consumers are becoming comfortable allowing AI to move beyond providing information to supporting parts of the lending journey, including comparing lenders, checking eligibility, completing applications and securely submitting authorised documents.
"Consumers are already changing the way they engage with financial services," said Mariana Pinheiro, CEO of Experian EMEA & Asia Pacific.
"They are not just experimenting with AI anymore; they are beginning to trust it with more meaningful parts of their financial lives. Our research shows that 82% of the surveyed respondents already trust LLMs to compare loans across providers. For banks and lenders, the question is no longer whether AI will influence the next step of that journey, but how to prepare for it while continuing to earn and protect consumer trust.
"What began as using LLMs to better understand financial products is already moving towards asking AI agents to help them navigate complex financial journeys.”
Consumers are embracing AI agents because they see practical value, not simply because the technology is new, Experian noted. The research found that 85% of the survey respondents believe AI agents could help them compare more options than they could manually, while 84% say AI could help them save money by finding better prices or rates.
A further 83% believe AI agents could help them avoid missing important details such as hidden fees or contract terms, while 81% believe AI could reduce decision fatigue by handling research and routine tasks on their behalf.
The findings suggest consumers are looking for AI that simplifies complex financial decisions, saves time and helps them make more informed choices. The research also shows that consumers have different comfort levels when it comes to how much autonomy they would give an AI agent, Experian disclosed.
For credit applications, many still want to retain oversight, while others are open to greater delegation: 23% would allow an agent to act when certain pre-agreed rules are met, while 5% would be comfortable giving it full autonomy.
Research highlights:
- Over half (54%) of consumers are comfortable with AI agents applying for credit on their behalf.
- A little over than eight in 10 (82%) trust AI to compare loans across providers.
- Over eight in 10 (85%) also believe AI agents could help compare more options than they could manually.
- More than eight in 10 (84%) believe AI agents could help them find better prices or rates.
- Three quarters would feel more comfortable using an LLM connected to a financial institution they already trust.
In Singapore, consumers are embracing AI agents because they see practical value, not simply because the
technology is new, Experian observed. However, comfort declines the further a task moves from research into commitment. Over a third (37%) of Singapore consumers would grant an AI agent no autonomy at all when applying for a loan or credit card; 36% would allow it to act only after their approval, and 27% would allow conditional or full autonomy.
More than three-quarters (77%) of Singapore respondents said they would feel more comfortable using AI
connected to a financial institution they already trust, highlighting the opportunity for banks and lenders to build AI experiences within trusted customer relationships rather than treating AI as a standalone service.
At the same time, 82% of Singapore consumers say AI agent manipulation - through fake offers or
impersonation by cybercriminals - is their top concern, the highest level of concern recorded for this risk
across the study's 13 markets.
This mirrors a wider pattern in Singapore, where scams remain a national concern despite recent declines. Scam losses fell 17.9% year-on-year to around S$410.6 M in the first half of 2026, from approximately S$500.2 M in the same period a year earlier, according to Singapore Police Force figures reported by local media.
E-commerce and phishing scams remain the most common case types, underlining why identity verification and fraud prevention will be critical as AI-assisted financial journeys take hold.
The research also lands against a backdrop of rising household borrowing. Singapore's total household liabilities reached S$415 B in the Q126, up 8.2% year-on-year - the fastest pace of growth in nearly five years - while personal loans rose 14.6% over the same period, according to Singapore Department of Statistics data reported by local media.
As more consumers turn to credit - and increasingly compare and apply using AI - the need for secure, trusted AI-assisted journeys becomes more pressing, Experian observed.
Kabir Khanna, GM, Experian Credit Services Singapore, said: “The opportunity is not simply to
make financial services faster with AI, but to make it possible for AI agents to act safely on a consumer’s
behalf. That requires a new layer of trust: being able to establish who the agent represents, what the
consumer has authorised it to do and whether the interaction can be trusted. Getting that foundation right will be critical to unlocking agentic finance at scale.”
*Experian commissioned Forrester Consulting in July 2026 to survey 6,247 credit-active digitally literate consumers across Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, India, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Spain and Turkey. Respondents represented a balanced mix of generations and employment groups and were selected based on recent experience using digital financial services.
**LLM stands for large language model.
