EMVCo Considers Global Specifications to Support Agentic Payments

EMVCo, the technical body behind EMV Specifications and programs for card-based payments, is now considering global specifications to support agentic payments.

The organization is working on how EMV Specifications such as EMV 3-D Secure (3DS), EMV Payment Tokenisation and EMV Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) can be developed to promote seamless and secure card-based agentic payments, it said in a Thursday (Jan. 20) press release.

Agentic payments have unique characteristics in how transactions are initiated, authenticated and secured, and a globally interoperable and scalable approach may help make the payments trusted by consumers, merchants and issuers, the release said.

EMVCo is already engaging with EMVCo Associates and Subscribers as well as liaising with global technical bodies and associations, according to the release. It also invites all interested stakeholders to participate in EMVCo and share input.

The technical body is collectively owned by American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay and Visa, per the release. It has hundreds of Associates and Subscribers, including merchants, banks and technology holders.

“EMVCo developed the global specifications that enable trusted card-based payments for billions of consumers and businesses worldwide,” EMVCo Executive Committee Chair Patrik Smets said in the release. “There is now a clear opportunity to collaborate with participants across the industry to extend this experience to support agentic payment solutions.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence and Worldpay collaboration “Agents of Change: How Agentic AI Is Redefining Commerce” found that industry leaders are developing new solutions, partnerships and protocols to enable transparent and secure agentic commerce.

The report said that one of the things firms can do to prepare to lead in agentic commerce is to shape industry standards through early adoption.

“By deploying agentic AI now, firms can influence emerging protocols and best practices — such as secure agent-led payment frameworks — ensuring alignment with both regulators and customers,” the report said.

Google introduced its Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) in September, saying the protocol was developed in tandem with payments and tech firms and is designed to “securely initiate and transact agent-led payments across platforms.”

OpenAI said in September that it was open-sourcing the Agentic Commerce Protocol that powers the company’s Instant Checkout. The company said this open standard for AI commerce lets AI agents, people and businesses work together to complete purchases.