Visa Joins Mastercard and Ant International on AI-Agent Payment Standards

Mastercard is expanding into agentic commerce through Agent Connect even as major banks demand tougher safeguards for AI shopping agents, with fraud, scams and data-privacy risks moving into focus. The payments network's merchant tools can combine Anthropic's commerce-agent blueprint with Mastercard's payment intelligence and authorization controls, aiming to let AI shop for consumers while keeping Mastercard at the center of every transaction. Shares rose roughly 0.9% to $564.98 at 10.47am ET on Thursday morning. The opportunity carries sharp edges: shopping bots could drive more payment volume, but misunderstood instructions, disputed purchases and murky liability could also inflate network costs. At $564.98, Mastercard trades 17.49% below its GF Value of $684.73.

Travelers can now use Solana-based digital dollars to book flights across more than 300 airlines, according to a recent announcement. The move extends Solana stablecoin payments into airline ticketing, covering a network of over 300 carriers. No further details on the participating airlines, launch partners, or transaction terms were provided in the announcement.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is expanding its cross-border payments capabilities through a partnership with Thunes, integrating Thunes' Direct Global Network with J.P. Morgan Payments' Xpedite Remit solutions suite. Through Xpedite Remit, clients can send faster payouts to local bank accounts and mobile wallets across more than 100 corridors, reaching 12 billion bank accounts and mobile wallets via Thunes' network with real-time, 24/7 payment networks through a single account and connectivity. The initial rollout supports instant supplier settlements, bill payments and remittances and will be available globally, including in markets with significant cross-border remittance flows such as India, Mexico, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Philippines. The expanded capabilities will also benefit JPMorgan's Consumer & Community Bank division, whose Chase accounts serve approximately 94 million consumer and small-business customers. The bank processes payments across more than 200 countries and territories and approximately 120 currencies, and while the partnership's financial contribution remains undisclosed, broader corridor access and use cases could support higher payment volumes and fee-based growth over time.