EMVCo Concluded Public Review of Agentic Payment Framework
The standards body is evaluating how AI agents securely communicate consumer intent during digital transactions.
Updated on Oct. 2, 2026 in Artificial Intelligence
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EMVCo closed its public comment period on September 30, 2026, for a proposed framework designed to standardize how AI agents share transaction intent. This research-stage initiative aims to provide financial systems with a mechanism to verify authorized AI-driven purchases.
Why it matters
As AI agents increasingly participate in retail, the industry requires standardized methods to track delegated authority and intent for dispute resolution. The framework seeks to move beyond current ad-hoc implementations by establishing a shared, secure infrastructure for these transactions.
The proposed framework utilizes Intent Services as a shared layer to manage consumer-authorized intent, which is linked to payment credentials before a transaction occurs. EMVCo is also investigating Know Your Agent protocols and indicators for risk assessment compared to standard payment flows.
The players
EMVCo
An organization that manages global technical specifications for card-based and mobile payment transactions.
The details
The framework creates a standardized layer for the registration, retrieval, and management of intent, ensuring that systems can verify a user's prior authorization before processing an agentic request. It includes proposals for agentic payment indicators to assist with fraud prevention by signaling to participants the nature of the transaction. The framework does not currently define specific business rules for how individual products are deployed, focusing instead on the underlying communication layer.
Timeline
September 1, 2026: EMVCo issued the formal request for public comment.
September 30, 2026: The public comment period for the agentic payments framework closed.
The Tech Race
This development follows a pattern set by legacy security protocols like EMV 3-D Secure, which established the precedent for consumer authentication. EMVCo is now attempting to maintain that same standardization as retail migration shifts toward autonomous agent-based purchasing.
The framework does not yet affect consumer transactions, as it remains at the proposal stage of technical development. Future implementation will depend on how banks and merchants adopt these standards to verify AI agents that now perform tasks like brand switching for 27% of AI users.
The takeaway
The industry is moving toward establishing the plumbing necessary for autonomous commerce. Watch for EMVCo to announce whether it will issue new specifications or updates to existing tokenization technologies in early 2027.
Further reading
Learn more about the latest technical standards for Artificial Intelligence developments.
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