Ecosystem Roundup: Why “Know Your Agent” will matter as much as KYC in payments

As AI agents begin to handle supplier searches, terms negotiation, and payments initiation on behalf of companies, the assumption that a human approves every transaction is changing. A Sunrate and Mastercard report, Beyond Automation: Defining Agentic Global Payments, suggests that speed is not enough for this transition to succeed.

Companies will require a "Trust Layer" - infrastructure that verifies an agent's identity, defines its authority, and records its actions. This shift is evolving from Know Your Customer (KYC) to Know Your Agent (KYA), based on three key pillars: protecting credentials, capturing transaction intent, and enforcing governance to authenticate agents and revoke permissions as needed.

Southeast Asia, in particular, faces unique challenges with its startup ecosystem, which manages multiple currencies, jurisdictions, and compliance regimes. According to Gartner, half of all AI projects fail after the pilot stage due to unresolved risk controls. The report posits that the successful players in agentic payments won't be those with the most impressive AI interfaces, but those who can demonstrate to banks, auditors, and regulators that their agents' actions are authorized, limited, and traceable.

In July, SEA's tech funding reached a 12-month high with 17 rounds closed, a 25.53% increase from June and 180.9% higher than a year earlier. Companies like Graas, which acquired Trustana for AI agents to improve retail accuracy, and K2 Therapeutics, which raised US$50M for global expansion, are part of this surge.