When AI becomes the buyer: why banks must prepare for the age of agentic payments

Artificial intelligence is poised to transform not only how payments are made, but also how purchasing decisions are taken. As AI agents begin to search, compare, negotiate and pay on behalf of consumers, trust, identity and customer relationships may become the defining assets of tomorrow’s payment ecosystem.

A new frontier for payments

For decades, digital payments have focused on making transactions faster, safer and more convenient. Yet the next transformation may take place before the payment itself even occurs.

At a recent European Payments Council (EPC) panel, moderated by Andrew Vorster, Head of Growth at The Banking Scene, leading figures from across the payments ecosystem — including Paolo Baldriga (AI & Data Strategy Executive in Digital Payments and Commerce), Deniz Oran (Google), Daniel Van Delft (EPI Company/Wero) and Brice van de Walle de Ghelcke (Mastercard) — explored the rise of agentic commerce and its implications for banks, merchants and payment providers.

Rather than asking, “How do people pay?”, the discussion centred on a new question:

How will AI agents discover, choose and pay on behalf of people?

Some estimates suggest that this new form of AI-driven commerce could represent between USD 3 trillion and USD 5 trillion in transaction value by 2030.

Trust will become the decisive competitive advantage

The emergence of AI agents raises fundamental questions for the payments industry.

If consumers increasingly rely on digital assistants to make purchasing decisions, who will they trust to safeguard their money? Who will verify the identity of these agents? Who will remain accountable if something goes wrong?

The panel reached broad consensus on one point: while AI may automate decisions, trust is unlikely to be delegated.

Regulated financial institutions remain uniquely positioned to provide the security, governance and accountability that consumers expect whenever money moves.

The real battle is the customer interface

The discussion also highlighted a strategic shift extending far beyond payments.

Today, consumers search for products, compare offers and decide how to pay themselves.

Tomorrow, AI agents may perform all of these tasks.

This raises a fundamental question for banks, merchants and payment providers alike:

Who owns the customer relationship when AI becomes the primary buyer?

If consumers increasingly interact through AI agents, traditional brands may become less visible. Merchants could lose direct access to customers, while banks risk becoming invisible infrastructure operating behind the scenes.

At the same time, loyalty programmes, customer experience and first-party data are likely to remain valuable differentiators, provided institutions successfully adapt them to an AI-driven environment.

Europe’s role is still being defined

The panel also highlighted an important geopolitical dimension.

Many of the emerging standards governing AI-driven commerce are currently being developed by global technology and payments companies. Initiatives such as Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), the Agent-to-Agent (A2A) Protocol and Mastercard’s Agent Pay framework are already shaping how AI agents may interact with merchants and payment providers.

For many participants, Europe cannot afford to become a passive adopter of standards developed elsewhere.

Instead, European payment schemes, financial institutions and public authorities should remain actively involved in defining the identity, interoperability and governance frameworks that will underpin tomorrow’s digital economy.

The continued development of EPI and Wero demonstrates that Europe is already building important components of this future infrastructure.

Preparing today for tomorrow’s payments

Although agentic commerce is still in its early stages, the panel delivered one clear message: the standards being designed today are likely to shape the next generation of digital commerce.

Banks are therefore encouraged to engage with emerging protocols, prepare their infrastructures for AI-enabled interactions and continue building on the trust that has long distinguished regulated financial services.