SAN FRANCISCO (dpa-AFX) - Digital payment company Ant International, finance technology giant Mastercard (MA), and payment tech major Visa (V) announced on Wednesday that they are collaborating on a Know-Your-Agent (KYA) interoperability framework.
This framework is designed to help card networks, digital wallet ecosystems, agent platforms and marketplaces streamline agent onboarding and identification across networks, based on shared principles while preserving each network's own verification and decisioning processes.
Previously, the three companies had rolled out respective protocols - Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard Verifiable Intent, and Ant International's Agentic Mobile Protocol and will now work explore avenues to work towards common principles.
The KYA framework which is interoperable is expected to simplify and facilitate agentic payment transactions for service providers, agent platforms and marketplaces while upholding robust trust guardrails.
'AI agents are evolving from making recommendations to completing purchases on behalf of users. By 2030, AI agents are projected to orchestrate US$3 trillion to 5 trillion of global consumer commerce. Underlying the mega-trend is the KYA architecture of payment networks and service providers, which establishes requirements and accountability, verifies agent identities, and ensures secure, trusted transaction execution.', the companies said in a statement.
The KYA collaboration revolves around Cross-network Operator Traceability, Shared Certification Requirements and Continuous Transaction Monitoring.
This effort aims to support secure, scalable agentic commerce, enabling AI agents to operate safely and reliably across payment ecosystems while maintaining strong safeguards for consumers, merchants and financial institutions.
On Wednesday, shares of Mastercard closed at $567.50, down 0.59% and Visa shares closed at $367.39, down 0.34% on the New York Stock Exchange.
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