Introduction to Agentic Payments
Mastercard has successfully completed its first live, authenticated agent-based payment transaction in Singapore. This milestone marks a significant step forward in autonomous AI commerce, transitioning from proof of concept to everyday use. The transaction was carried out in partnership with DBS and UOB, two of Southeast Asia’s largest banks.
How Agentic Payments Work
In the demonstration, an AI agent booked a ride to Singapore’s Changi Airport through hoppa, a global mobility provider. The booking was facilitated by CardInfoLink’s AI agent, which connects to hoppa’s taxi and airport limousine network. The basis of the transaction was Mastercard Agent Pay, the company’s framework for secure AI-initiated purchases.
Each transaction under Agent Pay uses a Mastercard Agentic Token, issued per agent, while consumer consent is captured explicitly and purchase confirmation secured through Mastercard Payment Passkeys. Tokenised credentials authenticated with those passkeys ensured consumer verification and data protection.
Benefits of Agentic Payments
The transaction offers one answer: tokenisation, passkey authentication, and explicit consent layers from the outset. This provides a secure and responsible way to bring innovation into everyday services. Minsook Cho, country manager for Singapore at Mastercard, said: ‘Mastercard’s first live agentic transaction shows how innovation can be brought into everyday services responsibly and securely with Agent Pay.’
Meanwhile, Singapore’s major banks are moving in multiple directions. DBS completed a separate agentic payments pilot with Visa in February 2026, where AI agents executed food and beverage transactions using DBS and POSB cards. Additionally, Mastercard is establishing a regional AI Centre of Excellence in the country and is deploying dedicated agentic commerce teams in APAC to support financial institutions and merchants as they transition to agent-led experiences.
Future of Agentic Payments
Mastercard says it will expand Agent Pay use cases in transportation, travel, and retail sectors where the friction of manual payment steps may be an issue. The infrastructure for AI agents to spend on your behalf is being built, and the ride to Changi Airport was just the first stop. Therefore, we can expect to see more developments in this area in the future.
Finally, the fact that the same bank appears in both Mastercard and Visa’s agentic milestones in weeks of each other speaks to how aggressively Singapore’s financial institutions are positioning themselves in the market. As a result, we can expect to see more innovation in the agentic payments space in the coming months and years.
