Ant International, Visa & Mastercard Develop Know-Your-Agent Framework for $3-5 Trillion AI Commerce

AI Agents Set to Transform Global Commerce

Ant International announced Thursday it has partnered with Visa and Mastercard to develop a shared Know-Your-Agent framework for AI-agent payments1

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. The collaboration targets a rapidly expanding market, with McKinsey projections estimating AI agents will orchestrate $3 trillion to $5 trillion of global consumer commerce by 20301

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. As AI shopping agents evolve from making recommendations to completing purchases autonomously, the three payment giants recognize the urgent need for common trust standards across their networks.

Building Trust in AI-Driven Payment Services

The shared Know-Your-Agent framework focuses on three critical areas for onboarding and identification of AI agents across payment networks2

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. First, operator traceability links each AI agent to a validated entity, whether a cardholder or business. Second, shared certification assesses each agent against security and behavioral requirements. Third, continuous monitoring tracks agents using identity and transaction signals. "Trust is the foundation of the AI transformation," Jiang-Ming Yang, chief innovation officer at Ant International, told CNBC, citing AI hallucinations as a key concern requiring safety measures1

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Interoperability Framework Eliminates Duplicate Verification

The interoperability framework allows AI agents registered on one network to gain recognition across others without redundant verification processes1

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. "If [an] agent registers with Ant, they don't need to register again with Visa, Mastercard," Yang explained1

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. This streamlined approach reduces integration complexity and duplicative digital identity verification efforts while maintaining robust trust and risk controls4

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. Each network retains its own verification and decision-making processes, ensuring accountability remains distributed across the payment ecosystem2

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Existing Protocols Converge Toward Common Principles

All three companies have already developed their own protocols for AI agents in commerce. Visa operates the Visa Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard runs Mastercard Verifiable Intent, and Ant International uses the Ant Agentic Mobile Protocol2

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. The collaboration will explore opportunities to work toward common principles while maintaining each network's distinct approach3

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. "Interoperability across Know-Your-Agent frameworks is essential to making agentic commerce work at scale," said Pablo Fourez, Mastercard's chief digital officer1

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Singapore Regulator Hosts Development Platform

The development work runs through BuildFin.ai, an industry collaboration platform convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore2

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. The platform builds on the regulator's Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime (SAFR) framework and covers payment ecosystems in Singapore2

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. This regulatory backing provides a structured environment for developing common approaches to AI agent verification, accountability and risk management across payment networks3

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Digital Wallets Drive Global Payment Shift

The partnership holds particular significance given the growing dominance of digital wallets in global transactions. Digital wallets accounted for 56% of global e-commerce value and 33% of point-of-sale value in 2025, representing more than $13 trillion in spending, according to Worldpay1

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. While Visa and Mastercard dominate developed economies, many developing markets rely on e-wallet systems like those connected through Ant International's Alipay+ network, which links more than 50 digital wallets to 150 million merchants2

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. The shared framework gives card networks access to markets where physical cards are less prevalent5

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Strategic Implications for Payment Networks

For Visa and Mastercard, the Know-Your-Agent framework aligns with their broader push into fraud protection and identity verification services. Visa agreed in August to acquire fraud-detection firm BioCatch for $2.4 billion, a move tied to rising AI-powered scams5

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. Mastercard's value-added services revenue grew 20% year-over-year in the second quarter, or 18% on a currency-neutral basis5

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. Agent verification could extend this growth trajectory as AI agents remove time constraints on consumer spending, potentially increasing transaction volumes flowing through payment networks5

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Early AI Agent Features Already Launching

Alipay, operated by Ant Group in mainland China, announced Wednesday that users can set recurring requests for AI agents to make Starbucks orders1

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. Users can instruct the app to "buy me a Starbucks iced Americano at 10 a.m. every day," which places the order at the designated time before prompting payment completion1

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. Users can also make recurring ride-hailing requests from Didi through the same AI tool1

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. These early implementations demonstrate how AI agents are transitioning from experimental features to practical consumer services.

Industry Faces Bot Management Challenge

The PYMNTS Intelligence report "How Enterprises Can Build a 'Know Your Agent' Defense" found in March that nearly 90% of enterprises identified bot management as a major challenge, with outdated digital identity controls costing businesses almost $100 billion annually in fraud, false declines and lost customers4

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. The Know-Your-Agent framework directly addresses this pain point by establishing requirements and accountability, verifying agent identities, and ensuring secure transaction execution across the payment ecosystem3

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. Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth products and strategic partnerships, emphasized that "as AI agents become a bigger part of how people discover and buy, trust must scale with them"2

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