Visa and Mastercard Join Ant International on a KYA Interoperability Framework as Agent Identity Standards Begin to Converge

According to a PYMNTS report dated September 10, 2026, Ant International is working with Visa and Mastercard to develop a "Know Your Agent" (KYA) interoperability framework. The three parties disclosed the effort in a press release on September 9.

The framework's goal is specific: to simplify onboarding and identity verification for AI agents across networks, spanning card networks, digital wallet ecosystems, agent platforms, and marketplaces. The press release offers a quantified projection—by 2030, AI agents are expected to orchestrate $3 trillion to $5 trillion in global consumer commerce.

Notably, all three companies already had their own protocols: Visa has the Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard has Verifiable Intent, and Ant International has the Agentic Mobile Protocol. This collaboration is not about drafting a new standard from scratch, but about exploring how existing protocols can "move toward common principles."

Interoperability is harder than issuing another white paper—and more critical

The core question in agent payments has never been "can it pay," but "should this payment be approved." When an AI agent initiates a transaction on behalf of a user, the recipient and the payment network need to answer three questions: who this agent is, what it is authorized to do, and whether this operation falls within the scope of that authorization.

This is exactly what KYA aims to solve. It shares the same logic as KYC, but the subject shifts from a "person" to a "software entity"—what needs to be verified is no longer an ID document, but the agent's identity credentials, authorization intent (mandate), per-transaction limits and daily cumulative caps, and payee whitelists.

The problem is that if every network builds its own KYA, agent platforms would need to perform identity registration and authorization mapping separately for each network. For developers, this means N networks correspond to N sets of integration logic; for merchants, it means they cannot use a unified signal to judge whether "this agent is trustworthy." That is where the value of an interoperability framework lies: enabling common trust signals to be recognized across different payment ecosystems.

Judging from the press release's wording, what the three parties aim to discuss is "common principles"—not a unified specification. That phrasing is worth noting. Consensus at the level of principles is still a considerable distance from implementable technical specifications, field definitions, and liability allocation.

What this means for each party's position

For the card networks, this is a necessary prerequisite for bringing agent payments into existing clearing rails. Visa and Mastercard's existing advantage lies in the breadth of their acceptance networks, but if agent-initiated transactions cannot complete identity and authorization verification before settlement, risk will accumulate on the issuing bank and merchant side. The KYA interoperability framework is essentially about standardizing the ability to "intercept before settlement."

For agent platforms and marketplaces, cross-network mutual recognition means one integration, access across multiple networks. This will lower the marginal cost of multi-network deployment, but it also means platforms will need to accept more unified liability requirements—if an agent exceeds its authority, how liability is divided among the platform, the network, and the user is a question the framework must answer.

For Ant International, having its Agentic Mobile Protocol at the same discussion table as the two major card networks is itself a confirmation of its position. Whether the account systems and risk-control capabilities accumulated on the mobile payment side are transferable to agent scenarios—this collaboration provides a window to test that.

What remains unclear

The press release did not disclose the framework's timeline, the specific division of labor among participants, whether third parties will join, or how this KYA framework will align with existing licensing and compliance requirements in various jurisdictions. Agent identity verification involves non-repudiation and attribution; these have been discussed at the technical level, but there is still no unified regulatory position.

A more practical question: will the interoperability framework ultimately be an open standard, or an access mechanism led by the three parties? If the latter, agent platforms and payment service providers that do not join could face de facto barriers. The press release does not provide an answer.

What is certain is that the identity layer for agent payments is moving from "each building its own" to "cross-network negotiation." As Visa, Mastercard, and Ant International sit at the same table to discuss common principles, competition in agent payment infrastructure has shifted from "who supports it first" to "who sets the rules."

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Original source: PYMNTS · https://www.pymnts.com/cybersecurity/2026/visa-mastercard-team-with-ant-know-your-agent-framework/