Visa, Mastercard, and Ant International Team Up on ID Checks for AI Agents
Ant International, Mastercard, and Visa have begun work on a shared Know-Your-Agent framework for AI agents that shop on users’ behalf. It would link each agent to a validated operator and cut duplicate identity checks across card and wallet networks. The work runs through a Singapore regulator’s platform.
September 10, 2026 – 6:16 pm
Credit: © Immagini e Video di Michelangelo via Canva.com
Ant International, Mastercard, and Visa have announced a collaboration to develop a framework that helps card networks, digital wallets, agent platforms, and marketplaces onboard and identify AI agents across networks. Each network would maintain its own verification processes.
Framework Coverage:
The companies identified three key areas of work:
- Operator Traceability: Links each agent to a validated operator, cardholder, or business.
- Shared Certification: Assesses each agent against security and behavioral requirements.
- Continuous Monitoring: Uses identity and transaction signals to monitor each agent.
Each company already has its own protocol for agent payments: Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard’s Verifiable Intent, and Ant International’s Agentic Mobile Protocol. They aim to explore ways to align these protocols moving forward.
The project will be carried out through BuildFin.ai, a platform organized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, building on their Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime (SAFR) framework.
Company Statements:
- Mastercard’s Chief Digital Officer, Pablo Fourez: “Interoperability across Know-Your-Agent frameworks is essential to making agentic commerce work at scale.”
- Visa’s Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships, Rubail Birwadker: "As AI agents become a bigger part of how people discover and buy, trust must scale with them."
- Ant International’s Chief Innovation Officer, Jiang-Ming Yang: "If [an] agent registers with Ant, they don’t need to register again with Visa or Mastercard," and emphasized the importance of safety due to AI agents’ potential for hallucination.
Digital Wallets and Global Expansion:
Ant International operates Alipay+, connecting 150 million merchants to over 50 digital wallets and banking apps. Following its separation from Ant Group nearly three years ago, Ant International has focused on global expansion, raising $1.2 billion in July for this purpose.
CNBC cited Worldpay figures showing that digital wallets accounted for 56% of global e-commerce value and 33% of point-of-sale value in 2025.
TNW has previously reported on AI shopping agents, including Meta’s recently launched Muse, Amazon’s Alexa integration in its search bar, and the efforts of China’s tech giants in this space.