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

Ant International, Mastercard, and Visa have joined forces to establish a framework for trust and verification of artificial intelligence (AI) agents capable of making purchases on behalf of users. This collaboration was announced on September 10, with the aim of creating an interoperability standard that would allow various payment systems to recognize and trust AI agents across different platforms.

The initiative seeks to address the growing role of AI agents in global consumer commerce, where these agents are poised to move from making recommendations to directly completing purchases. By developing this common framework, the companies hope to reduce integration costs and expedite the launch of new agentic services by providing enhanced trust and risk visibility among participating networks.

The new framework builds upon existing protocols such as Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard's Verifiable Intent, and Ant International's Agentic Mobile Protocol. To achieve this goal, the three companies have partnered through BuildFin.ai, a platform established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. This collaborative effort brings together financial institutions, technology providers, and researchers to develop AI solutions tailored for the financial services sector.