By Brice van de Walle, Executive Vice President, Core Payments Europe, Mastercard
Agentic commerce is no longer a future concept; across Europe it’s now becoming a reality. AI is already transforming the way we shop – it can understand what we’re looking for, provide tailored recommendations, and even find the best prices for our budgets. But until recently, the seamlessness of that interaction has stalled at the point of payment.
Industry leaders across Europe have been working hard to close that gap. AI is now moving beyond advisory assistance and becoming an active participant in the transaction itself.
What were once conceptual theories about AI‑initiated transactions are now being proven across markets through real‑world pilots, issuer enablement and ecosystem collaboration. In controlled, consent‑based scenarios, consumers can now authorise an AI agent to complete a purchase on their behalf, using credentials they already trust.
And Europe is at the forefront of this innovation. Banks across the continent have already completed controlled, live agentic transactions, using passkeys for authentication, proving that when the right infrastructure is in place – from tokenisation and authentication to robust consumer consent – trusted agentic payments are a viable reality.
Acceptance, too, is evolving. This month, Mastercard, together with Worldline and ING, performed a live end-to-end, fully regionally orchestrated agentic transaction, with all elements of the transaction flow based in Europe. This is a major milestone, one that is shifting readiness into real merchant capability and ensuring that payments initiated by AI agents can be processed transparently and responsibly at scale. Collaboration across the payments ecosystem – between issuers, acquirers and payment service providers – will be key to moving agentic commerce from isolated pilots to repeatable models.
While each of these milestones will continue to build confidence in agentic payments for consumers, banks and merchants alike, trust will remain the differentiator. Robust transparency measures, such as Verifiable Intent, will play a critical role in ensuring every AI-driven transaction can be traced back to explicit authorisation, with clear visibility for issuers and strong governance throughout the payment flow.
To maintain that trust, the sustainability of agentic commerce will depend on shared standards and common frameworks. That is why Mastercard is working alongside partners like the FIDO Alliance and Google to advance common frameworks for trusted, user-consented interactions in AI-driven experiences.
It has also enabled issuers in Europe at a network level for Agent Pay, while supporting European investment with the recently announced Lisbon Centre of Excellence for Innovation, to accelerate the development of next-generation, agent-driven payment experiences.
Europe is helping turn agentic commerce from promise into practice. By prioritising AI-driven commerce that balances accountability and discipline with innovation, the continent will set the stage for a wave of AI-driven commerce that delivers simplicity and convenience without compromising on safety and control for consumers.
