Mastercard has unveiled Agent Pay, a new service which enables AI-powered assistant to autonomously initiate and complete transactions on behalf of users.

On Wednesday, the payment giant confirmed Citi and US Bank Mastercard cardholders will be early adopters of Mastercard’s Agent Pay. All Mastercard cardholders in the US will also be able to access Agent Pay by the Christmas season, with the programme launching globally shortly thereafter.

The move comes after Mastercard recently revealed plans to work with Microsoft and other leading AI platforms to begin a landmark programme that will integrate commerce with agentic AI.

The launch is part of a campaign that will see the payment giant introduce new tools and partnerships to promote agentic commerce and AI-based payments, as it seeks to lay the groundwork for reliable standards in agentic transactions.

Mastercard said that its partnerships in the field of agentic payments currently include AI and commerce experts, including Stripe, Google and Ant International's Antom, which are collaborating to promote agent-based transactions and make them accessible to merchants and platforms around the world.

“These efforts are laying the groundwork for smarter, more secure shopping experiences using AI and intelligent agents as the company is helping to set the standards for how AI can securely and confidently handle payments,” the company added.

Agentic commerce is an emerging model of digital commerce in which AI-powered agents – such as chatbots or virtual assistants – can autonomously perform tasks on behalf of consumers. These agents can browse, select and purchase products online, handling end-to-end transactions with minimal or no user intervention.

The payment service provider announced that it will separately introduce new tools, including the Agent Toolkit on its Mastercard Developers platform.

The new tool will enable AI assistants and agents to access Mastercard's API documentation via its Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and interpret it using structured, machine-readable content, with the move aiming to support integration with platforms such as Claude, Cursor and GitHub Copilot.

Other tools include Agent Sign-Up, which allows those using the Agent Toolkit to identify their agents and access Mastercard AI-enabled products and services.

Insight Tokens are another tool that aims to facilitate the access and application of Mastercard-authorised information, enabling consumers to receive more personalised and useful experiences and information, said the company.

In June Mastercard’s chief AI and data officer Greg Ulrich told FStech that while he does not foresee immediate risks for agentic commerce, handling data responsibly will be an important part of the process.

“How we think about liability and consent, and how we track those, is something we must get right,” he explains. “We have elements of this in place, but as it gets more complicated, the role of new entities within the ecosystem must be understood.”

In July, Mastercard launched a new AI-powered tool to allow issuers to design their own payment cards in an industry first.

The company said that its AI Card Design Studio enables users to create customised cards quickly, easily and affordably.

The studio allows users to upload logos and product details, use AI-assisted design features, customise as needed, and instantly download brand-compliant designs.

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