European payment firms team up on rules for AI shopping agents

A group of European payment companies has formed a new body to write shared rules for AI shopping agents, the software that buys things for you. It is called the Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce. Its goal is an industry standard, meaning one common set of rules, for purchases made by AI on a person's behalf.

What changed

The founding members are PPRO, a UK-based payments tech firm, and BLIK, a Polish mobile payment system. Also in are Bancontact from Belgium, European Payments Initiative (the group behind the Wero payment system) and DIAS, Greece's national payment clearing house. The council will study local payment systems across Europe and how they can work with AI agents responsibly. It will focus on five areas:

• Humans keep control of approval, and an agent cannot override it.
• Agents need a way to prove to banks they can make an authorised payment without cards.
• A defined way for you to authorise an agent to act for you.
• Who is responsible when a payment is reversed: disputes, refunds and liability.
• How agents find merchants, and what makes a merchant eligible.

What is not known yet

No timeline or draft of the standard has been shared. The article does not say whether more members will join or how the rules would be enforced. PPRO's technology chief, Alexander Matthey, said shoppers should be able to use the local payment methods they already trust, even when an AI agent is buying. Elsewhere in the industry, Visa launched an Agentic Ready program earlier this year.