The agent pays: new payment rails
„AI agents are becoming independent actors in purchasing and payment, so card networks, banks, and stablecoin issuers must now build the payment infrastructure suited to them.”
Counter-narrative
PYMNTS analysis suggests payment infrastructure for agents is evolving faster than the agents themselves, and most x402 payments do not originate from AI agents. Visa's CEO says consumers already use AI for shopping but do not hand over payment control. On Visa's own benchmark, buyer agents failed in 42.8% of runs.
Carriers
Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase and stablecoin issuers, Agentic Payments Alliance, AWS, Cloudflare, Stripe, fintech trade press
Analysis
According to the narrative, the next customer of the financial system is software. Therefore, card networks and crypto players compete to write the rules for agent payments. The narrative is fueled by standardization initiatives: the Agentic Payments Alliance, an EMVCo draft, and a common standard for agent identification. Similarly, it is driven by the first live transactions (Santander, Revolut, Danske Bank) and x402 transaction numbers. The primary interest lies with Visa, Mastercard, and the stablecoin ecosystem, as the identification layer and operational rules are being set now. A weak point is that supply has outpaced demand. Visa's CEO states consumers are not yet handing over payments, and an analysis shows most x402 payments do not originate from agents. The narrative tells more about the standards race than actual usage.
What's at stake: Identification and operating rules for agentic commerce are being set now, before it is clear whether the market needs them.
Narrative sub-threads
Card networks' live agent transactions
Mastercard is rolling out agent payments with virtual cards and spending limits, while Visa runs an issuer readiness program. Banks are processing the first card transactions initiated by agents one after another. In Hungary, K&H is prepared to accept such payments, and reportedly the first test has taken place.
It builds on existing card infrastructure. Its evidence consists of concrete first transactions and issuer preparations announced bank by bank, not draft standards or crypto rails.
▲ at peak · evidence: strongStandards war and agent identification
Payment players are building common rules and 'Know Your Agent' identification for agent payments. Meanwhile, parallel, competing protocols are running. Implementation of the agreed common standard for agent identification remains pending, with no consensus on the solution.
It concerns the coordination layer of alliances, protocols, and identity frameworks, not individual transactions. The main mechanism is agent authentication and competition over rule-making.
→ lasting · evidence: moderateStablecoin-based machine micropayments
The x402 protocol and stablecoin wallets are becoming the rails for machine micropayments. According to Chainalysis, the number of x402 payments grew from about 1,500 in mid-2025 to more than 138 million by the third quarter of 2026. Most traffic is of small amounts, and one analysis indicates most x402 payments do not originate from AI agents.
It is linked to crypto and cloud service providers, and relies on programmable wallets instead of card networks. It argues with transaction count data.
↗ rising · evidence: moderatePublic-authority rails and supervisory conditions
Central banks, utility payment systems, and regulators are beginning to define the framework for agent payments. India is preparing an agent registry and agent protocol. Hong Kong's banking regulator reportedly demands identity verification, while the OCC classifies simple payment agents as high risk.
Here, the process is driven not by market players but by NPCI, the ECB, the OCC, the Fed, and the Hong Kong banking regulator. The mechanism is the regulation of authentication, delegation of authority, and approval.
↗ rising · evidence: moderateConsumer trust and the agent capability gap
The rails are being built, but consumers trust agents with purchase preparation, not payment. On Visa's benchmark, AI shopping agents failed in 42.8 percent of test runs.
It presents the demand side with surveys and benchmarks. It provides evidence of the limit that actual usage places on the infrastructure build-out.
Sub-thread stories
Card networks' live agent transactions
Visa, Mastercard and Corpay build trust rails and virtual cards for AI agentschief financial officerFor agentic business payments, cards bound to a purpose and amount, and approval rules, are needed.banking professionalAgentic transactions require separate identification and dispute-resolution processes.fintech companyCard network standards determine what kind of agentic payment product can be built.Visa: issuer readiness goes live, but the agent economy lacks infrastructurebanking professionalCard issuers need to check that their systems recognise and authenticate trusted agents.fintech companyThe Trusted Agent Protocol and the requirements of Visa's program determine with whom agentic commerce can be launched.Anthropic unveils commerce agent blueprint with Visa and Mastercard; Mastercard launches agentic cohortfintech companyMastercard's programme and the card networks' blueprints offer an entry point to the agentic payments ecosystem.banking professionalNew network tools for protecting agent transactions should be included in the review of fraud-prevention architecture.Santander and Mastercard report Europe's first payment made entirely by an AI agent; DBS and Stripe partnerbanking professionalAgent payments are already running in live banking pilots, so settlement and dispute-resolution processes should be prepared in advance.fintech companyPartnerships between banks, networks and payment providers show which integrations will be needed for cross-border payments.Revolut and Visa complete France's first AI agent-initiated paymentbanking professionalThe first experience of how agentic payments work on cards, and of customer approval, is worth analysing.fintech companyAgentic products from neobanks and payment providers mean either a competitive advantage or competitive pressure.Mastercard gives AI agents virtual cards, partners with Alchemybanking professionalCard-issuing rules need to be worked out for transactions initiated by an agent.fintech companyCard networks are opening their platforms to agents, so it is worth planning integration.retail customerFor a card given to an agent, setting the spending limit is the customer's responsibility.Danske Bank and Mastercard complete Denmark's first agentic AI payment; Rogers Bank transaction in Canadabanking professionalAgent-initiated transactions are already running live, so issuer-side handling and authentication should be tested.fintech companyIntegration with card networks' agent payment frameworks can be a competitive advantage.chief financial officerCompanies may soon receive payments initiated by AI agents, so approval frameworks need to be set up.K&H prepares to accept payments initiated with Mastercard Agent Paybanking professionalAgent-initiated payments are also appearing at Hungarian banks, and the process for identifying and handling them must be developed.fintech companyK&H's move signals that agent payment acceptance capabilities are also being built in the domestic market.retail customerA customer's AI assistant may in future initiate purchases through the bank, so it is worth clarifying the approval conditions.First test of AI-based payments in Hungary completed; OTP and SimplePay respondbanking professionalHungarian banks and payment providers must decide how to handle purchases made by AI agents.fintech companyFor SimplePay and merchants, the acceptance conditions for agent-based payments will soon become relevant.retail customerHanding purchases over to an AI agent may bring new verification and consent steps into payment processes.K&H and Mastercard extend partnership to 2030, adding AI-based payments to joint developmentbanking professionalAI-based payments will be a priority in K&H's card product development in the coming years.fintech companyThe Mastercard–K&H partnership is a channel for AI solutions to enter the Hungarian payments market.retail customerK&H customers can expect AI-supported payment features in the coming years.Mastercard opens early access to Agent Pay for Machines for AI agentsfintech companyAgent Pay and agent tokens can be integrated for services paid for by agents.banking professionalIssuers must prepare for agent tokens and for authorisation rules covering agent-initiated transactions.chief financial officerMachine purchases need a spending limit drawn from a single budget and an approval policy.Shopify adopts Visa, Mastercard and American Express agentic payment technology for AI shopping agentsfintech companyIn agentic checkout, alignment with network tokens and intent authentication may become a condition of competing.banking professionalIssuers need to prepare to authenticate and fraud-screen the tokenized cards that agents use.
Standards war and agent identification
26 firms including Visa and Mastercard launch the Agentic Payments Alliancefintech companyFirms should assess whether their product fits the alliance's forthcoming standards and whether they can join the work.banking professionalCard and account-management processes need to be prepared to handle agent-initiated payments.chief financial officerThe corporate payment policy should set the limits and approvals under which an agent may pay on the company's behalf.Visa, Mastercard and Fiserv join Agentic Payments Alliance as EMVCo publishes draft agentic payments frameworkbanking professionalComments on the EMVCo draft can be submitted until 30 September, and issuers should already consider their customer and agent identification logic.fintech companyFirms should align with the emerging standards or take part in shaping them, because these will determine how agent payments are accepted.Ant International, Visa and Mastercard agree on common identity standard for AI agentsfintech companyAgentic payment products will have to be aligned with this identification standard, or they risk being left out of the networks.banking professionalBanks need to prepare to identify, authorise and handle disputes for transactions initiated by agents.retail customerThe prospect of an AI agent paying on a customer's behalf is approaching, so the limits of the mandate need to be set in advance.Visa, Mastercard and Ant seek to align AI agent verification, but disagree on the solutionbanking professionalThe standard for agent identification will determine what checks must be built into the payment flow.fintech companyMultiple parallel verification systems may raise integration costs.Visa, Mastercard and Ant build shared Know-Your-Agent framework as Sumsub links KYC to agent transactionsbanking professionalIdentifying the agent and proving human approval add a new authentication layer to the payment flow.fintech companyJoining shared identification frameworks may become a condition of distribution.Mastercard expands Agent Pay as card networks and Stripe build competing agent protocolsfintech companyPayment products must decide which agent protocols to support and how to verify an agent's identity.banking professionalCard issuers must work out how to identify and authenticate agent-initiated transactions.American Express publishes its standard for AI agent paymentsfintech companyIf you build an agent payment product and expect card acceptance, align with the AmEx standard.banking professionalPre-payment agent verification offers a model for reshaping fraud screening.Agent identity: LexisNexis, Mastercard and Trulioo build Know Your Agent toolsbanking professionalFor transactions initiated on a customer's behalf by an agent, banks must decide which identification signals they will accept.fintech companyBuilding agent risk signals into the fraud-prevention stack may become an expectation.
Stablecoin-based machine micropayments
Cloudflare, Circle and OSL launch stablecoin wallets and payment layers for AI agentsfintech companyStablecoin infrastructure is being built for agent-based payments; product strategy should also be aligned with these open protocols.banking professionalStablecoin rails outside the banking system are competing with card- and account-based solutions for automated payments.OSL, Cloudflare, Orla and Sokin launch stablecoin payment products for AI agentsfintech companyAgent identification and spending-cap solutions need to be designed for payments made by agents.banking professionalBanks need to assess how payments initiated by AI agents are to be handled on customer accounts.AWS AgentCore payments generally available; OpenAI and AWS publish x402 guidefintech companyAgent payments can already be tested on cloud provider infrastructure, so product plans should be reviewed.chief financial officerFirms need to assess whether their own agents will be given payment authority, and with what spending cap.Coinbase launches AiFi after $100M in x402 transactionsfintech companyStablecoin-based agent payments are either a competitor or an integration opportunity; positioning should be decided now.banking professionalBanks should expect part of agentic commerce to start on rails outside the banking system.AI agents run 23 million stablecoin transfers in 30 days on x402 protocol as Payouts.com and Casper launch itfintech companyAgent payment rails require planned stablecoin integration and API-level authentication.banking professionalMachine-to-machine payments are a new transaction channel, and products need to be prepared for it.Coinbase unveils AI financial accounts and limited wallets as x402 spreadsfintech companyAgent wallets with limited permissions offer a template for designing spending limits.Most x402 payments do not come from AI agents, PYMNTS analysis findsfintech companyAgent payment volume data should be treated with caution as a basis for a business plan.chief financial officerCapital should not be allocated to agent payment infrastructure on the basis of early traffic figures.BlackRock: AI agents could drive stablecoin demand in machine-to-machine paymentsfintech companyMachine-to-machine micropayments could open a new product area for stablecoin-based infrastructure.banking professionalReplacing card and ACH rails for machine payments is being raised as a possibility, so strategy should account for it.chief financial officerThe scenario is so far a forecast; actual agent payment volumes are still small.AI agents could run on stablecoins: BlackRock, Coinbase and new issuers make movesfintech companyCard cost structures do not suit micropayments, so stablecoin-based settlement is a strategic alternative.banking professionalMachine-to-machine payments are a new type of traffic that also affects banks' custody and settlement offerings.chief financial officerIt is worth assessing how much corporate spending could shift to agent-made, small-value payments.Chainalysis: AI agents made 138 million crypto payments in a year, most of them tinyfintech companyMachine-to-machine micropayments point to a real market, running on stablecoin rails.chief financial officerWhen buying agent services, plan for stablecoin payouts and a control system.Stablecoins compete for AI-agent payments, with USDC in the leadfintech companyIn the market for micropayments between agents, stablecoin rails are a competitive alternative to card-based solutions.banking professionalBanks should assess which payment flows could move off bank rails through agents and stablecoins.Circle, Polygon, Instinct, Hecto and Kakao Pay advance stablecoin payments for AI agentsfintech companyIn agentic stablecoin payments, limits, identification and risk management have become basic building blocks of product development.
Public-authority rails and supervisory conditions
PSD3 and PSR: paying via AI agents raises new authentication questionsfintech companyAgentic payment flows must be designed around PSR-compatible strong customer authentication.banking professionalFor card and account payments, the handling of authority granted on behalf of an AI agent needs to be clarified.India works on small-value UPI payments by AI agents under user-set rulesretail customerThe customer would set the agent's spending limits and rules, so configuring them will be the main safeguard.banking professionalInstant payment systems need a new authorisation and limit-management process for agent-initiated payments.fintech companyThe framework opens a new product space for delegated payment services.India prepares AI-agent registry and Unified Agent Protocol for UPIfintech companyUPI agents will only be able to operate in a registered, verified way, which developers need to factor in now.banking professionalBanks will need to verify agent authentication and handle authorised transactions.OCC conditionally approves bank charters for AI-agent and stablecoin infrastructurefintech companyThe US charter route may open up for agent and stablecoin infrastructure as well.banking professionalNew licensed competitors may enter agent payments and stablecoin services.ECB to launch AI-agent payments proof-of-concept for the digital euro in Januaryfintech companyFirms with agent-payment solutions built on the digital euro should apply for the test or prepare for it.banking professionalAgent-based use cases for the digital euro may require new payment processes to be built.Fed's Waller: AI shopping changes what banks need to authenticatebanking professionalFraud-detection and authentication models must distinguish between a transaction initiated by the customer and one initiated by their agent.fintech companySpending permissions granted to agents should be designed in tiers, with limits.Hong Kong becomes first banking regulator to require identity credentials for AI agentsbanking professionalThe agent's identifier must be recorded in the onboarding and risk-management process.OCC's first supervisory guidance on bank AI use rates simple payment agents as high riskbanking professionalInventories, risk classifications and control documentation for AI systems should be prepared for examinations, especially for agents that make payments.fintech companyFintech firms working with banks can expect stricter AI-control questions from partner banks.
Consumer trust and the agent capability gap
Mastercard report: one in ten online shoppers could buy and pay through AI agents by 2030fintech companyFor product planning, it is a capacity estimate that nearly one in ten consumers may pay through an agent.banking professionalBanks need to prepare for agent-initiated card transactions and for handling customer authorisation.retail customerUsing a shopping assistant and handing over payment authority are separate decision steps.Visa CEO: AI shopping has arrived, but agentic payments haven'tchief financial officerRollout plans are more realistic if they assume a slower pace of agentic payment adoption.fintech companyThe task is to resolve the trust barriers to handing over payment, not just the technology.TD Bank survey: 18% of Americans would let AI make financial decisions on its ownbanking professionalFor agent-based services, autonomous decision-making authority needs to be limited and customer consent handled explicitly.15% of Hungarians would already give their bank card details to AIbanking professionalHanding card details to AI raises fraud and liability questions, so banks need to address them in customer communication.retail customerGiving card details to an AI assistant is risky, so it is advisable to use authorised, tokenised solutions.fintech companyOpenness to agent-based shopping indicates the scale of demand.Visa survey: consumers trust AI to shop, but not to payfintech companyDesign the agent shopping experience so that payment approval stays with the customer.banking professionalExpect agent-initiated payments to appear during the holiday season.Visa test: AI shopping agents failed 42.8% of runsfintech companyThe benchmark is a yardstick for demonstrating the reliability of agentic shopping features.banking professionalWith agents initiating card transactions, the high failure rate means banks should prepare for more disputes and refund cases.retail customerAn order entrusted to a shopping agent is worth checking before the final step.
Google search interest
Hungary
| Topic and search term | Weekly | Average |
|---|---|---|
| The agent pays: new payment railsagent payment | 0 | |
| Card networks' live agent transactionsvirtual bank card | 1 | |
| Standards war and agent identificationdigital identification | 0 | |
| Stablecoin-based machine micropaymentsstabilcoin | 0 | |
| Public-authority rails and supervisory conditionspayment regulation | 1 | |
| Consumer trust and the agent capability gapAI purchasing | 0 |
World
| Topic and search term | Weekly | Average |
|---|---|---|
| The agent pays: new payment railsagentic payments | 5.9 | |
| Card networks' live agent transactionsvirtual card payments | 4.1 | |
| Standards war and agent identificationknow your agent | 4.6 | |
| Stablecoin-based machine micropaymentsstablecoin payments | 13.2 | |
| Public-authority rails and supervisory conditionspayments regulation | 10.8 | |
| Consumer trust and the agent capability gapai shopping assistant | 4.7 |
Google Trends relative search index over the period studied, weekly average. A narrative and its sub-threads appear in a single comparison: 100 is the group's most-searched day, and the figures can only be compared within the group. The search term was chosen by machine analysis; it measures how much the term is searched, not how widespread the narrative is.
Who is affected and how
- fintech company
- The identification layer is now being decided, with several protocols developing in parallel: Visa Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard Agent Pay, Stripe MPP, Google AP2, and x402. It is advisable to build on one or two protocols rather than spending on all simultaneously.
- banking professional
- Card-network issuers are launching readiness programs (Visa Agentic Ready, Mastercard Agent Pay). It is worth assessing whether the system can distinguish and restrict agent-initiated transactions.
- retail customer
- A spending-limited virtual card is a manageable form of risk, especially because the agent can purchase without approval. Agents should only be given purpose-bound, limited cards, not the main card data.
- chief financial officer
- Purpose-bound virtual corporate cards that agents can create (e.g., Corpay Agent Card) can automate procurement processes. Approval thresholds and logging must be set before rollout.
Hungary
During the examined period, the narrative has no or minimal domestic trace: among the supporting stories, there is no [HU]-marked domestic development.
Weekly trend
Turning points
26 firms including Visa and Mastercard launch the Agentic Payments AllianceWith the 26 founding members of the Agentic Payments Alliance, the topic has shifted from individual product announcements toward industry standard-setting. The alliance is preparing to develop unified standards.Most x402 payments do not come from AI agents, PYMNTS analysis findsAccording to a PYMNTS analysis, most x402 payments do not originate from AI agents. This raises questions about how much x402 traffic reflects genuine agent usage.Visa test: AI shopping agents failed 42.8% of runsOn Visa's own benchmark across 22 AI models, shopping agents failed in 42.8 percent of runs, making technical maturity a measurable question.
Related narratives in the News magazine
Supporting stories
Visa, Mastercard and Corpay build trust rails and virtual cards for AI agentschief financial officerFor agentic business payments, cards bound to a purpose and amount, and approval rules, are needed.banking professionalAgentic transactions require separate identification and dispute-resolution processes.fintech companyCard network standards determine what kind of agentic payment product can be built.PSD3 and PSR: paying via AI agents raises new authentication questionsfintech companyAgentic payment flows must be designed around PSR-compatible strong customer authentication.banking professionalFor card and account payments, the handling of authority granted on behalf of an AI agent needs to be clarified.Cloudflare, Circle and OSL launch stablecoin wallets and payment layers for AI agentsfintech companyStablecoin infrastructure is being built for agent-based payments; product strategy should also be aligned with these open protocols.banking professionalStablecoin rails outside the banking system are competing with card- and account-based solutions for automated payments.OSL, Cloudflare, Orla and Sokin launch stablecoin payment products for AI agentsfintech companyAgent identification and spending-cap solutions need to be designed for payments made by agents.banking professionalBanks need to assess how payments initiated by AI agents are to be handled on customer accounts.26 firms including Visa and Mastercard launch the Agentic Payments Alliancefintech companyFirms should assess whether their product fits the alliance's forthcoming standards and whether they can join the work.banking professionalCard and account-management processes need to be prepared to handle agent-initiated payments.chief financial officerThe corporate payment policy should set the limits and approvals under which an agent may pay on the company's behalf.AWS AgentCore payments generally available; OpenAI and AWS publish x402 guidefintech companyAgent payments can already be tested on cloud provider infrastructure, so product plans should be reviewed.chief financial officerFirms need to assess whether their own agents will be given payment authority, and with what spending cap.Coinbase launches AiFi after $100M in x402 transactionsfintech companyStablecoin-based agent payments are either a competitor or an integration opportunity; positioning should be decided now.banking professionalBanks should expect part of agentic commerce to start on rails outside the banking system.Visa: issuer readiness goes live, but the agent economy lacks infrastructurebanking professionalCard issuers need to check that their systems recognise and authenticate trusted agents.fintech companyThe Trusted Agent Protocol and the requirements of Visa's program determine with whom agentic commerce can be launched.AI agents run 23 million stablecoin transfers in 30 days on x402 protocol as Payouts.com and Casper launch itfintech companyAgent payment rails require planned stablecoin integration and API-level authentication.banking professionalMachine-to-machine payments are a new transaction channel, and products need to be prepared for it.Visa, Mastercard and Fiserv join Agentic Payments Alliance as EMVCo publishes draft agentic payments frameworkbanking professionalComments on the EMVCo draft can be submitted until 30 September, and issuers should already consider their customer and agent identification logic.fintech companyFirms should align with the emerging standards or take part in shaping them, because these will determine how agent payments are accepted.Anthropic unveils commerce agent blueprint with Visa and Mastercard; Mastercard launches agentic cohortfintech companyMastercard's programme and the card networks' blueprints offer an entry point to the agentic payments ecosystem.banking professionalNew network tools for protecting agent transactions should be included in the review of fraud-prevention architecture.Santander and Mastercard report Europe's first payment made entirely by an AI agent; DBS and Stripe partnerbanking professionalAgent payments are already running in live banking pilots, so settlement and dispute-resolution processes should be prepared in advance.fintech companyPartnerships between banks, networks and payment providers show which integrations will be needed for cross-border payments.India prepares AI-agent registry and Unified Agent Protocol for UPIfintech companyUPI agents will only be able to operate in a registered, verified way, which developers need to factor in now.banking professionalBanks will need to verify agent authentication and handle authorised transactions.Revolut and Visa complete France's first AI agent-initiated paymentbanking professionalThe first experience of how agentic payments work on cards, and of customer approval, is worth analysing.fintech companyAgentic products from neobanks and payment providers mean either a competitive advantage or competitive pressure.Mastercard report: one in ten online shoppers could buy and pay through AI agents by 2030fintech companyFor product planning, it is a capacity estimate that nearly one in ten consumers may pay through an agent.banking professionalBanks need to prepare for agent-initiated card transactions and for handling customer authorisation.retail customerUsing a shopping assistant and handing over payment authority are separate decision steps.Ant International, Visa and Mastercard agree on common identity standard for AI agentsfintech companyAgentic payment products will have to be aligned with this identification standard, or they risk being left out of the networks.banking professionalBanks need to prepare to identify, authorise and handle disputes for transactions initiated by agents.retail customerThe prospect of an AI agent paying on a customer's behalf is approaching, so the limits of the mandate need to be set in advance.Visa CEO: AI shopping has arrived, but agentic payments haven'tchief financial officerRollout plans are more realistic if they assume a slower pace of agentic payment adoption.fintech companyThe task is to resolve the trust barriers to handing over payment, not just the technology.Mastercard gives AI agents virtual cards, partners with Alchemybanking professionalCard-issuing rules need to be worked out for transactions initiated by an agent.fintech companyCard networks are opening their platforms to agents, so it is worth planning integration.retail customerFor a card given to an agent, setting the spending limit is the customer's responsibility.Most x402 payments do not come from AI agents, PYMNTS analysis findsfintech companyAgent payment volume data should be treated with caution as a basis for a business plan.chief financial officerCapital should not be allocated to agent payment infrastructure on the basis of early traffic figures.Danske Bank and Mastercard complete Denmark's first agentic AI payment; Rogers Bank transaction in Canadabanking professionalAgent-initiated transactions are already running live, so issuer-side handling and authentication should be tested.fintech companyIntegration with card networks' agent payment frameworks can be a competitive advantage.chief financial officerCompanies may soon receive payments initiated by AI agents, so approval frameworks need to be set up.ECB to launch AI-agent payments proof-of-concept for the digital euro in Januaryfintech companyFirms with agent-payment solutions built on the digital euro should apply for the test or prepare for it.banking professionalAgent-based use cases for the digital euro may require new payment processes to be built.Mastercard expands Agent Pay as card networks and Stripe build competing agent protocolsfintech companyPayment products must decide which agent protocols to support and how to verify an agent's identity.banking professionalCard issuers must work out how to identify and authenticate agent-initiated transactions.Chainalysis: AI agents made 138 million crypto payments in a year, most of them tinyfintech companyMachine-to-machine micropayments point to a real market, running on stablecoin rails.chief financial officerWhen buying agent services, plan for stablecoin payouts and a control system.Mastercard opens early access to Agent Pay for Machines for AI agentsfintech companyAgent Pay and agent tokens can be integrated for services paid for by agents.banking professionalIssuers must prepare for agent tokens and for authorisation rules covering agent-initiated transactions.chief financial officerMachine purchases need a spending limit drawn from a single budget and an approval policy.Visa test: AI shopping agents failed 42.8% of runsfintech companyThe benchmark is a yardstick for demonstrating the reliability of agentic shopping features.banking professionalWith agents initiating card transactions, the high failure rate means banks should prepare for more disputes and refund cases.retail customerAn order entrusted to a shopping agent is worth checking before the final step.
Machine analysis based on story titles and summaries, with a verification pass. The source of the facts is the article linked at each story.