As technology continues to reshape the payments landscape, Mastercard this week announced the launch of Agent Pay — a groundbreaking solution designed to redefine how consumers and businesses conduct transactions in the digital age.

By integrating agentic artificial intelligence (AI) with its trusted payment technologies, Mastercard aims to deliver smarter, more secure, and personalised payment experiences.

“Mastercard Agent Pay enables trusted AI agents to securely make payments on behalf of consumers and businesses. Whether helping a customer plan a birthday party or managing international supplier logistics for a small business, these agents use Mastercard tokens to conduct payments in a seamless, secure, and personalised manner,” the company stated.

With the new technology, shoppers can now use AI assistants to curate and purchase outfits tailored to an event’s style and weather conditions, complete with payment options like Mastercard One Credential. Small businesses can also leverage AI agents to source materials, negotiate terms, and complete cross-border transactions using a virtual corporate card token. Retailers using Mastercard’s secure identity validation and tokenisation technology can similarly provide a consistent, personalised shopping experience with relevant benefits.

The Agentic payments programme introduces Mastercard Agentic Tokens as a next-generation in its evolution of tokenisation technology, which already powers mobile contactless payments, card-on-file security, payment passkeys, and other programmable payment capabilities.

“Mastercard is transforming the way the world pays for the better by anticipating consumer needs on the horizon,” chief product officer at Mastercard Jorn Lambert said. “The launch of Mastercard Agent Pay marks our initial steps in redefining commerce in the AI era. We are keen to collaborate with industry leaders to advance standards for agentic payments and build trust in this exciting new frontier.”

Mastercard, in collaborating with large tech firms such as Microsoft, said it is now moving to integrate advanced AI technologies like Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot Studio into its secure payment ecosystem. The company is also working with leading technology providers like IBM, leveraging its watsonx Orchestrate platform to drive B2B use cases, as well as with Braintree and Checkout.com to enhance tokenisation for merchants and support secure, transparent agentic transactions.

Grounded in Mastercard’s principles of responsible innovation and consumer control, Agent Pay offers secure agent registration and verification, trusted token-based payments across conversational platforms, robust fraud protection, and consumer support with clear permissions and transaction transparency.

“Our cyber and authentication capabilities, including on-device biometrics and agent validation protocols, will ensure that agent-initiated transactions are secure from start to finish,” the company noted.

As agentic commerce continues to evolve, Mastercard said it remains committed to shaping the future of payments, with a strong focus on trust, scalability, and security. The company is actively building partnerships and establishing protocols to support the next generation of commerce, ensuring that all players in the ecosystem, from consumers and issuers to merchants, can benefit from the potential of AI-powered transactions.