Sydney, Australia – Mastercard has completed Australia’s first fully authenticated agent-driven payment transactions on its network, extending its global Agent Pay capability into the APAC region.
The development marks progress in agentic commerce, where AI systems act on behalf of consumers to manage purchases and routine transactions, a segment expected to account for a growing share of online spending in Australia over the coming years.
These transactions demonstrate how AI agents can be integrated into payment processes as identifiable and governed participants. By recognising and authenticating agents within the transaction flow, the framework is designed to support security, transparency and accountability for cardholders, issuers, acquirers and merchants.
“Agentic commerce represents one of the most profound shifts in consumer behaviour we’ve seen in decades,” Paul Monnington, division president of Australasia at Mastercard, commented.
“Our role is to ensure this future is built on trust, security and transparency – the same principles Australians expect from card payments. Today’s milestone shows what’s possible when technology and governance come together.”
The initial transactions involved a debit card issued by Commonwealth Bank of Australia to purchase cinema tickets from Event Cinemas, and a credit card issued by Westpac to book accommodation in Thredbo.
In both cases, payments were authorised with customer consent, and all parties in the payment chain were able to identify that an AI agent initiated the transaction. The payments were processed through IPSI and supported by Maincode’s locally developed large language model, Matilda, highlighting the adaptability of agent-led payments across different use cases.
“Payments play an important role in our customers’ everyday lives, and giving our customers seamless, secure and simple ways to pay is a priority for us. Agent Pay will make those moments quicker and easier for our customers,” Carolyn McCann, chief executive of consumer at Westpac, shared.
Mastercard’s Agent Pay framework is designed to enable interoperability between financial institutions, payment processors and merchants by aligning with industry standards. This approach aims to deliver consistent and trusted agent-enabled experiences while supporting risk controls, dispute management and fraud detection.
The company is also advancing agentic commerce across ANZ and the wider APAC region through initiatives including the establishment of a regional AI centre of excellence, expanded collaboration with large language model providers, and dedicated regional teams to support banks and merchants transitioning to agent-enabled payments.
The Australian deployment follows earlier Agent Pay launches in the United States and pilot programmes in the Middle East and Latin America, forming part of Mastercard’s broader strategy to support responsible innovation in AI-enabled payments through global collaboration with industry partners.
