Payment firms Visa, Mastercard and Ant International team up on AI agent trust framework

Ant International, Mastercard and Visa have launched an initiative to develop common standards to ​identify and verify AI agents that can ‌make purchases on behalf of users.

Here are some details:

The companies said on Thursday they had begun collaborating on a Know-Your-Agent ​interoperability framework that would allow card ​networks, digital wallets, agent platforms and online marketplaces ⁠to recognize trusted AI agents across different ​payment ecosystems while maintaining their own approval and ​risk-management processes.

The initiative comes as the payments industry prepares for the growth of agentic global consumer commerce, in ​which AI agents evolve from making recommendations to ​completing purchases on behalf of users.

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The framework builds on the ‌companies’ ⁠existing protocols, including Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard Verifiable Intent and Ant International’s Agentic Mobile Protocol.

The companies said the initiative could help reduce ​integration costs ​and accelerate ⁠the launch of new agentic services by providing greater trust and risk ​visibility across participating networks.

International, Mastercard ​and ⁠Visa said they would collaborate through BuildFin.ai, a platform convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore ⁠that brings ​together financial institutions, technology ​providers and researchers to develop AI solutions for financial services.