Agentic Commerce: A Primer for the Payments Industry

Publication Date: July 2026

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how consumers discover products, make purchasing decisions, and complete payments. As AI agents evolve from assistants into autonomous participants capable of initiating transactions on behalf of consumers, the payments industry must prepare for new transaction models, security considerations, and governance challenges.

This U.S. Payments Forum white paper provides a practical introduction to agentic commerce from a payments perspective. It establishes a common vocabulary, explores emerging use cases, examines evolving protocols and transaction models, and outlines key considerations for stakeholders preparing for this rapidly developing area of commerce.

This white paper explores:

• What agentic commerce is and how it differs from traditional e-commerce
• Emerging AI agent use cases across retail, travel, subscriptions, and replenishment
• Customer-, merchant-, and agent-initiated transaction models (CIT, MIT and AIT)
• Consent, delegated authority, and trust frameworks
• Emerging protocols supporting agentic commerce
• Security challenges including prompt injection, Know Your Agent (KYA), and fraud mitigation
• Actionable considerations for merchants, issuers, networks, payment service providers, and digital wallets

Please note: The information and materials available on this web page (“Information”) is provided solely for convenience and does not constitute legal or technical advice. All representations or warranties, express or implied, are expressly disclaimed, including without limitation, implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose and all warranties regarding accuracy, completeness, adequacy, results, title and non-infringement. All Information is limited to the scenarios, stakeholders and other matters specified, and should be considered in light of applicable laws, regulations, industry rules and requirements, facts, circumstances and other relevant factors. None of the Information should be interpreted or construed to require or promote the establishment of any solution, practice, configuration, rule, requirement or specification inconsistent with applicable legal requirements, any of which requirements may change over time. The U.S. Payments Forum assumes no responsibility to support, maintain or update the Information, regardless of any such change. Use of or reliance on the Information is at the user’s sole risk, and users are strongly encouraged to consult with their respective payment networks, acquirers, processors, vendors and appropriately qualified technical and legal experts prior to all implementation decisions.