European payments firms form council to standardize AI transaction rules
A group of European payments firms has established the Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce, an industry coalition dedicated to setting standards for AI-powered transactions using domestic payment methods. The alliance brings together PPRO, a UK-based fintech, alongside BLIK (Poland), Bancontact (Belgium), the European Payments Initiative (EPI), and DIAS, Greece’s national payment clearing house. Their shared objective is to create technical frameworks that enable AI agents to interact seamlessly with local payment infrastructure while addressing key operational risks.
The council has identified five primary challenges requiring immediate attention. First, it will implement safeguards to ensure human oversight remains mandatory in transaction approvals, preventing AI agents from processing payments without explicit user consent. Second, they will develop standardized verification protocols for agents to authenticate their legitimacy with banks and fintechs when operating outside conventional card networks. Additional priorities include defining user authorization mechanisms for agentic actions, establishing clear liability frameworks for reversed transactions, including dispute resolution and refund processes, and creating merchant identification systems that AI platforms can trust. These measures aim to prevent market fragmentation as agentic commerce expands, ensuring local payment methods retain relevance in automated environments.
PPRO’s chief technology officer, Alexander Matthey, emphasized that the council’s work will embed local payment compatibility into agentic commerce from its earliest stages. Explaining the rationale behind the council’s formation, he said: “For agentic commerce to continue gaining momentum, consumers need to be able to use the local payment methods they already know and trust, even if an AI agent is purchasing on their behalf.” The initiative reflects a proactive approach to avoiding the interoperability gaps that plagued earlier digital payment systems.
This development follows Visa’s recent launch of its Agentic Ready program, introduced earlier this year to support AI-driven payment solutions. The program builds upon Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol, which debuted in October 2025, marking a broader industry push toward standardized protocols for agentic transactions. Unlike previous fintech collaborations that treated local payment integration as secondary, this council treats it as a core requirement, prioritizing authorization, liability management, and merchant verification to prevent historical mistakes in digital payment adoption.
The council’s initial phase will conduct a full analysis of Europe’s existing local payment systems, identifying how they can adapt to AI-driven workflows without compromising security or user control. Preliminary discussions suggest a preference for modular standards, allowing AI agents to interface with multiple payment networks while maintaining transparent audit trails for dispute resolution. This structured approach aims to balance innovation with operational reliability as agentic commerce becomes more widespread.
