Payment Networks Ready Infrastructure for Agentic Commerce at Scale

Agentic commerce is taking shape inside the core systems of payment networks, with earnings calls and materials showing progress in moving from concept to controlled execution.

The emphasis during these quarterly updates has centered on how artificial intelligence agents can operate within existing payment credentials, authorization flows and risk frameworks.

Visa CEO Ryan McInerney framed the shift in operational terms, stating during the company’s earnings call that “AI and agentic commerce will expand our addressable market,” while linking that expansion to transaction growth and new use cases across consumer and commercial flows.

American Express and Mastercard delivered similar signals. American Express is embedding agent capabilities within its closed-loop network, while Mastercard is extending its open network through tokenization and credential orchestration.

Extending Existing Rails

The networks are building agentic commerce as an extension of payment infrastructure rather than a parallel system.

Visa described a model in which agents can search, decide and ultimately pay on behalf of consumers and businesses, with transactions executed using live cards and existing merchant acceptance points. The approach allows Visa to scale agent-driven payments without requiring new acceptance infrastructure.

“Our strategy as Visa-as-a-Service stack will help us drive future growth in … important ways,” including agentic commerce alongside stablecoins and money movement, McInerney said during the call.

Mastercard is pursuing the same outcome through its own architecture. CEO Michael Miebach said during the company’s earnings call that “the ecosystem continues to evolve,” adding that Mastercard is “engaged shaping what comes next with key players, including Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and other partners.”

American Express, operating within its closed-loop model, introduced an Agentic Commerce Experiences developer kit designed to integrate its cards directly into AI-driven transactions, signaling a more vertically integrated approach.

Trust and Control

The larger challenge, as referenced during the calls, has been ensuring that those transactions can be trusted, authenticated and reversed when necessary.

To address that, Visa is relying on tokenization, real-time data and network-level visibility, illustrated Wednesday (April 29), when the company announced its expansion of the Agentic Ready program to Latin America and Asia. McInerney emphasized the scale advantage on Visa’s quarterly call, saying that Visa processes “over 300 billion transactions annually,” providing the data required to manage risk in automated environments.

Mastercard is introducing additional controls at the credential level. The company launched “verifiable intent,” described as a tamper-resistant record of user authorization for agent-initiated payments, aimed at resolving disputes and clarifying liability.

American Express is addressing the same issue through protection frameworks. Management described its Agent Purchase Protection as an “industry-first commitment” to back transactions made by registered agents, signaling that liability rules are being defined alongside the technology.

High-Frequency and Complex Payment Flows

The networks are not projecting an immediate transformation of consumer checkout. Instead, they are pointing to specific areas where automation can increase transaction volume.

Visa highlighted B2B payments as a primary use case, noting that agents can automate payment initiation directly from invoices and contracts. The embrace of agentic commerce also underlines the ability to manage approvals autonomously. This reduces friction in workflows that are already digital but still require manual intervention.

Mastercard tied agentic commerce to its broader expansion in value-added services. Chief Financial Officer Sachin Mehra’s commentary showed value-added services and solutions revenue rising 18% on a currency-neutral basis, driven by demand for security, authentication and analytics capabilities that underpin automated transactions.

Miebach underscored the strategic direction, saying that “differentiated services powered by our data and how we approach partnerships” are central to enabling new payment experiences.

American Express pointed to operational efficiency gains, with management noting that AI initiatives are already delivering measurable productivity benefits, while positioning agentic commerce as a longer-term driver of growth and customer engagement.

Across all three networks, the pattern is consistent. Agentic commerce is expected to increase transaction density, particularly in commercial and cross-border flows, alongside the reshaping of everyday consumer behavior.

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