Europe’s local payment schemes want to make sure AI shopping assistants can pay with them, not just with cards. PPRO said in London on 21 October that it has formed the Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce with BLIK, EPI, Bancontact Company and DIAS. The group will write shared technical standards for using local payment methods when software agents buy on a customer’s behalf.
PPRO says other payment schemes have committed to join. The council will run working groups, technical projects and hackathons, and will feed its results into the wider rules being drafted for AI agent payments.
The council will set rules in five areas: how a payment is confirmed outside the shopping session, how an agent proves its identity on payment rails other than cards, how customer consent and delegated authority are recorded, how disputes, refunds and liability are handled, and how agents find payment methods and which ones they are allowed to use.
Alexander Matthey, CTO of PPRO, said “consumers need to be able to use the local payment methods they already know and trust” when an agent buys for them. PPRO cited Shopify data showing that shoppers referred by AI convert nearly 50% more often than those arriving from organic search, and spend 14% more per order.
Digital Trade Outlook’s View: Local Rails Are Fighting for the Default
Card networks are already setting the payment rules for AI agents. The method an agent is built to use first becomes the default, and the default wins volume. This council is Europe’s local schemes trying to get into those rules early. If they succeed, merchants keep access to cheaper local payments and PPRO stays the connector. If they don’t, agent checkout runs on cards.
Related on Digital Trade Outlook
- Visa, BILL and Billtrust Pilot AI Agents for B2B Invoice Payments
- Swift and Iberpay Link Spain’s Instant Payment Rails to Cross-Border Transfers
- Mastercard Adds Risk Intelligence to Stablecoin Payments
Image: PPRO, BLIK, EPI, Bancontact, DIAS