EPAA and HSBC launch APAC working group on agentic payments

The Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), a rank organisation for the Asia Pacific (APAC) payments sector, has launched an AI & Agentic Payments Working Group with HSBC arsenic a founding member.

In a statement, EPAA said the inaugural volition bring unneurotic banks, outgo networks, fintechs and exertion platforms to make standards and frameworks to enactment agentic commerce crossed APAC.

The motorboat comes arsenic AI agents statesman to initiate payments connected behalf of consumers and businesses successful the region.

In May, HSBC, unneurotic with Mastercard, tested end-to-end B2B agentic commerce transactions for 2 Singapore-based clients. Separately, Alipay's AI Pay exceeded 120 cardinal autonomous transactions successful a azygous week successful February.

EPAA said determination is presently nary "agreed standard" crossed APAC connected who is liable erstwhile an AI cause exceeds its mandate.

It besides flagged unresolved issues astir cross-border recognition and authentication of agents, the quality of fraud monitoring tools to separate morganatic cause enactment from compromised accounts, and quality handling erstwhile transactions are initiated by bundle alternatively than a person.

The moving radical is intended arsenic an industry-wide effort to code these issues collectively.

According to the association, the radical volition make shared standards and supporting infrastructure for cause identity, authentication and authorisation. It volition besides enactment connected spot and liability frameworks for cases wherever an cause acts beyond its mandate oregon erstwhile a outgo fails.

EPAA added that the radical volition analyse concern and commercialized frameworks for scaling agentic commerce, coordinate engagement with regulators crossed ASEAN and APEC, and nutrient toolkits, briefings and operational quality for subordinate organisations.

The relation said the group's positions volition beryllium developed done EPAA's 18-month engagement process with ASEAN and APEC governments and cardinal banks. Formal argumentation insubstantial recommendations are scheduled for the 51st ASEAN Summit and APEC Economic Leaders' Week successful November 2027.

Emerging Payments Association Asia CEO Camilla Bullock said: "The EPAA AI & Agentic Payments Working Group brings the close organisations unneurotic to specify the standards, infrastructure and frameworks that agentic commerce demands, and takes those positions straight to the regulators and governments crossed ASEAN and APEC.

"The organisations that assistance physique these frameworks present volition signifier however agentic commerce works crossed Asia Pacific for the adjacent decade."