Visa-Led KYA Initiative Aims to Accelerate Agentic Commerce Adoption

Visa Inc., Mastercard Incorporated, and Ant International have joined forces to create an interoperable Know-Your-Agent (KYA) framework.

The KYA initiative aims to streamline agent identification and onboarding across card networks, digital wallets, and agent platforms, allowing each network to retain its own verification and risk controls.

Each agent would be linked to a validated operator, cardholder, or business, with shared certification requirements assessing security and behavior. Continuous transaction monitoring would support ongoing risk evaluation as agents become more active across payment ecosystems.

The collaboration builds on Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard's Verifiable Intent framework, and Ant International's Agentic Mobile Protocol. This interoperability could reduce duplicate verification and integration work, supporting faster deployment of agentic services.