EMVCo Enhances Trust in Card-Based Agentic Payments
The payments industry’s adoption of agentic commerce involves software “agents” shopping and paying online on behalf of consumers. This technological shift marks a significant step forward. EMVCo, the global payments standards body, has developed a draft framework for secure, interoperable, and scalable agentic transactions using cards.
EMVCo’s Draft Framework
The draft, titled “EMV Agentic Payments—Framework for Specifications,” focuses on situations where consumer intent needs to be managed over time, such as recurring purchases. It is not a final set of rules, but rather a foundation for further industry engagement and potential specification development. The group is open for feedback from all interested stakeholders until Sept. 30 to ensure the guidelines meet diverse market needs.
To address this, EMVCo has added a “common coordination point” to existing cryptographic assurance technology. This addition could help payments platforms consistently interpret consumer-authorized intent. The framework sets out a technical layer that lets participants manage consumer intent in a transaction, ensuring the authorization process remains secure and understandable throughout the interaction.
This capability is a key aspect of card-based agentic payments. It addresses the complexity of ensuring that a human’s authorization is correctly passed on to the digital agent involved in the process.
The standards body has established an Agentic Payment Task Force and is working closely with other organizations like the FIDO Alliance, the OpenID Foundation, and the OpenWallet Foundation to bridge gaps in identity and transaction management. These partnerships are vital for ensuring security protocols align with broader identity verification efforts. Future developments might include features like Know Your Agent and Agentic Transaction Indicators to further enhance user safety.
While some in the industry welcome the standards body’s effort, there are concerns about the potential for rogue agents. Cliff Gray, founder of Lakeland Scientific, expressed caution: “At the core of agentic commerce is the idea that a software agent will be given the authority to make purchases on your behalf. Software spending your money. Ask me how many ways that can go wrong… Let’s hope EMVCo exercises and ensures just that.”
Eric Grover, principal at Intrepid Ventures, noted the slow and political nature of reaching technical consensus across competing payment networks. He pointed out that aligning diverse stakeholders requires patience and diplomacy, as the ecosystem is vast and varied. However, he appreciated the industry’s effort to develop rules for safe agentic payments at scale, recognizing that without such standards, the market lacks a unified approach.
Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., the organization has a long history of developing standards for the EMV chips embedded in cards. This work involves support from major players like Europay, Mastercard, Visa, JCB, American Express, China UnionPay, and Discover, who rely on the group for maintaining consistent transaction security across borders.
