Visa, Mastercard, Ant International team up on AI agent payments framework

Visa ↘ 0.27%, Mastercard ↘ 0.36%, and Ant International announced on September 10 that they will collaborate on a Know-Your-Agent interoperability framework designed to verify and onboard AI shopping agents across payment networks, a step toward enabling software to make purchases on behalf of consumers at scale.

A Common Trust Layer for AI Commerce

The three companies have each developed their own protocols for authenticating AI agents — Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard's Verifiable Intent, and Ant International's Agentic Mobile Protocol. Rather than replacing these systems, the new KYA framework aims to let an agent verified on one network be recognized across the others, reducing duplicative checks for merchants and platforms.cyprusshippingnews+1

The framework rests on three pillars: cross-network operator traceability, which links each agent to a validated business or cardholder; shared certification requirements that assess agents against security and behavioral standards; and continuous transaction monitoring using identity and transaction signals.cyprusshippingnews

The companies cited McKinsey research projecting that AI agents could orchestrate $3 trillion to $5 trillion in global consumer commerce by 2030. The collaboration will be advanced through BuildFin.ai, an industry platform convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to develop responsible AI solutions for financial services.pokde+2

From Theory to Transactions in Cyprus

Mastercard has already moved beyond planning. Earlier this year, the company conducted what it described as the first agentic transactions in a regulated environment, partnering with Alpha Bank Cyprus, Eurobank Limited, and the Bank of Cyprus. Using Mastercard Agent Pay, an AI agent completed purchases on behalf of a consumer with explicit consent and identity verification safeguards in place.cyprus-mail

A separate Mastercard report forecasts that more than one in ten consumers could regularly use AI agents for online purchases by 2030, with everyday items like groceries, medicines, and subscriptions among the first transactions consumers delegate. Research covering 26,000 parents and teenagers across 13 countries found that 62 percent of teenagers believe AI will change how their generation shops.cyprus-mail

What Remains to Be Built

"Interoperability across Know-Your-Agent frameworks is essential to making agentic commerce work at scale," said Pablo Fourez, Mastercard's chief digital officer. Ant International's chief innovation officer, Jiang-Ming Yang, called interoperable KYA between card and wallet networks "critical for securing trust" in agentic commerce.cyprusshippingnews

No timeline or merchant pilots have been announced. For now, each network retains its own approval process, and the product still has to be built.finance.yahoo