Mastercard launches Agent Pay, a pioneering technology for agentic payments to drive commerce in the age of AI

Mastercard today announced the launch of its Mastercard Agent Payments Program, Mastercard Agent Pay.The innovative solution integrates with agentic AI to revolutionize commerce.

Mastercard Agent Pay will deliver smarter, safer and more personalized payment experiences for consumers, merchants and issuers.

The program introduces the Mastercard Agentic Tokens, which build on proven tokenization capabilities that today drive global commerce solutions such as contactless mobile payments, stored secure cards and Mastercard Payment Passkeys, as well as programmable payments such as recurring expenses and subscriptions. This helps unlock an agentic commerce future where consumers and businesses can transact with confidence, security and control.

Mastercard will initially collaborate with Microsoft on new use cases to scale agentic commerce, and then with other leading AI platforms.It will also partner with technology enablers such as IBM, with its watsonx Orchestra product, to accelerate B2B use cases.

Mastercard will also work with acquirers and checkout players like Braintree and Checkout.com to enhance the tokenization capabilities that are already being used today with merchants to offer secure and transparent agentic payments.

In the case of banks, tokenized payment credentials will be seamlessly integrated into agentic commerce platforms, keeping card issuers at the forefront of this rapidly evolving technology with enhanced visibility, security and control.

How it works:

Mastercard Agent Pay will enhance generative AI conversations for people and businesses by integrating seamless, trusted payment experiences into the personalized recommendations and insights already provided on conversational platforms.

This means that for a person about to turn 30 and who is planning their birthday party, they can now talk to an AI agent to proactively select clothing and accessories from local boutiques and online retailers based on their style, the atmosphere of the venue and weather forecasts. Based on their preferences and feedback, the smart agent can make the purchase and also recommend the best way to pay, for example, using the Mastercard One Credential.

A small textile company will be able to use its AI agent to handle suppliers, optimize payment terms and manage logistics with an international supplier. From there, the AI agent can complete the cross-border purchase using a virtual corporate card token Mastercard and arrange the expedited and cost-effective delivery.

By identifying and validating a customer using Mastercard tokenization technology, a retailer will be able to offer a consistent shopping experience by adding benefits such as recommended products, free delivery, rewards and discounts.

What this means:

Mastercard will work with Microsoft to integrate Microsoft's leading AI technologies, including Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Copilot Studio, with Mastercard's trusted payment solutions to develop and scale agentic commerce, meeting the evolving needs of the entire commerce value chain.

Based on the company's commitment to responsible AI, Mastercard Agent Pay will ensure that payments made within AI platforms are secure and transparent at every stage of the transaction - before, during and after.

Deepening:

Secure registration and authentication of trusted agents: The program will require trusted AI agents to be registered and verified, and after this step, it will be able to make secure payments on behalf of its users.

Facilitating secure and secure transactions: Enhanced tokenization technology will enable payments to be initiated through conversational interfaces and performed on millions of merchants of all sizes who support online commerce today.All players in the value chain, from consumers to issuers and merchants, will be able to recognize transactions facilitated by smart agents, offering greater transparency.

Establishing clear rules for consumer control: Consumers will have full control over what the agent is authorized to buy on their behalf, ensuring that the payments they make are authorized and identified securely.

Protecting against fraud and supporting consumer disputes: Mastercard's world-class cybersecurity, security and authentication capabilities will protect merchants and consumers from malicious actors end-to-end.This will include the use of AI agents to facilitate strong consumer authentication by leveraging on-device biometrics and a process to help clarify agentic transactions that may be unknown or unrecognized.

“A Mastercard is transforming and improving the way the world pays by anticipating consumer needs,”, said Jorn Lambert, global head of products at Mastercard.“The launch of Mastercard Agent Pay marks our first steps in redefining commerce in the AI era, including new merchant interfaces to distinguish trusted agents from malicious actors using agentic technology.

Recognizing the seismic implications of this evolution, we look forward to collaborating with industry players to advance agentic payment standards, such as applying the Model Context Protocol for Secure Remote Commerce.

What's next?

As agentic commerce evolves, Mastercard is committed to continuous and responsible innovation in this space - enabling use cases and maintaining a vision for the future.