(RTTNews) – Mastercard Incorporated (MA), Visa Inc. (V), and Ant International, a Singapore‑based fintech firm, have begun collaborating on a Know‑Your‑Agent (KYA) interoperability framework. The goal is to simplify how card networks, digital wallets, agent platforms, and marketplaces identify and onboard AI agents across payment networks, the companies announced in a statement.
The partners said they will develop common principles for verifying agents and building trust, while each network retains its own verification and decision‑making processes.
Each company already operates its own agent payment protocol—Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard’s Verifiable Intent, and Ant International’s Agentic Mobile Protocol.
The proposed framework would enable trust signals from verified agents to be recognized across different payment networks and wallets, potentially reducing duplicate identity checks and lowering the cost and time required for businesses to launch agent‑based payment services.
The collaboration will concentrate on three areas: linking each agent to a verified operator, cardholder, or business; evaluating agents against security and behavioral standards; and continuously monitoring agents using identity and transaction data.
The firms will work through BuildFin.ai in Singapore to create shared approaches for AI agent verification, accountability, and risk management. BuildFin.ai is an industry platform convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
“Collaborations like this can help create greater consistency, stronger accountability, and increased confidence across the payments ecosystem as AI‑driven transactions become more common,” said Rubail Birwadker, Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships at Visa.
“Interoperability across Know‑Your‑Agent frameworks is essential to scaling agentic commerce, giving merchants, platforms, wallets, and issuers a uniform way to recognize trusted agents, verify that actions reflect user intent, and maintain accountability throughout the transaction,” said Pablo Fourez, Chief Digital Officer at Mastercard.
“We look forward to expanding our collaboration as the industry taps richer signals—capabilities, behavior, execution performance, and risk data—to enhance trust and simplify transactions for our clients and their customers,” said Jiang‑Ming Yang, Chief Innovation Officer of Ant International.
Mastercard shares closed down 0.59% at $567.50, and Visa shares slipped 0.34% to close at $367.39 on Wednesday.