• Key insights: In American Banker's global payments and fintech roundup, Visa is expanding its agentic AI tools, while U.K. regulators consider ways to improve cash access while providing more details on card fees.  
• What's at stake: New forms of AI can improve customer service, security and lending decisions.
• Forward look: Banks are ramping up investments in new forms of AI, creating competitive pressure. 

As technology firms build agentic AI tools that require little or no human supervision, they are also trying to make it easier and safer for these tools to communicate while making payments. 

Fiserv and Visa are attempting to scale agentic AI protocols, with the bank technology company agreeing to enable Visa's Intelligence Commerce and Trusted Agent Protocol. Visa's authentication and agentic AI will be made available to Fiserv's and Visa's merchant networks, supporting payment processing for agentic transactions. Fiserv and Visa will deploy Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol that spots malicious bots, ensures consumer authorization and validates transactions at checkout. 

"Through Visa Intelligent Commerce and our Trusted Agent Protocol, we are building trust into every layer of the agentic-commerce experience," Rubail Birwadker, global head of growth products and strategic partnerships at Visa, said in a release. "Partners like Fiserv are essential to scaling these secure, innovative solutions for merchants and consumers worldwide."

The Fiserv/Visa collaboration comes as Stripe, PayPal, Google and Mastercard also scale their agentic AI protocols. For example, Mastercard has combined its Agent Pay service with Agentic Tokens, a security protocol that leans on Mastercard's established tokenization capabilities to secure mobile contactless payments. Banks are also investing in agentic AI, with security, customer service and loan approvals being among the top tasks for future deployments.

Nathan Laine/Bloomberg

Visa debuts agentic real estate payments in the Middle East

In addition to building a network effect for its agentic AI protocol, Visa has collaborated with

United Arab Emirates-based real estate firm Aldar to support voice-enabled agentic payments.

The initial transactions involved customers making real-estate payments through Aldar's mobile app, with an AI agent leading consumers through a consent-led process. The transaction was processed on an Emirates NBD Darna Visa credit card, which is the real-estate firm's co-branded loyalty platform. 

''By pairing Aldar's AI agent with Visa Intelligent Commerce, we have transformed a routine payment into a customer-first experience that is secure, transparent, and almost instant," Harry Nakichbandi, chief digital officer at Aldar, said in a release, adding that as Aldar extends its AI-powered capabilities across Live Aldar, customers will see more services, including personalized offers and relevant services to Darna loyalty points and benefits that are applied automatically. "It's a deliberate step in how we use AI to remove friction, enhance trust, and create signature experiences at every touchpoint.''

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

FCA deregulates guardrails for contactless payments

The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority will allow banks to set flexible limits for contactless payments, starting in March. 

The move, which sets aside the current limit of about $135, is designed to make it easier for banks to accommodate the increasing popularity of mobile wallets. The FCA cited a larger plan in the U.K. to accelerate digital innovation, which includes other moves to streamline processing, such as reducing prompts for additional information such as PINs based on the size or risk of a transaction. 

In a release, the FCA said the "greater flexibility will incentivise firms to step up their fraud prevention, giving consumers greater protection and peace of mind. Crucially, existing consumer protections remain in place. Consumers must be reimbursed in unauthorized fraud cases, such as if their card is lost or stolen."

The U.S., New Zealand and Australia do not have standardized limits on contactless payments. Banks set these limits in these countries. In the U.S., the limits are usually around $200.

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

UK regulators push for more fee details

The Payment Systems Regulator plans to require payment networks to give businesses more information on charges for card payments. The PSR is consulting on standards that will require payment networks to give merchant acquirers information about pricing and details on how price points are developed. 

Another initiative will provide the PSR with greater access to data that will enable the regulator to monitor the financial performance of payment companies that operate in the U.K. 

"Greater transparency will equip acquirers and merchants with the information and confidence they need to navigate fees and make better decisions. Improved governance will help the PSR gather the information it needs to make decisions that foster a competitive and innovative payments market," David Geale, managing director at the PSR, said in a release. "These steps mark real progress that will benefit merchants, consumers, businesses, and the wider economy."

The PSR, which oversees card schemes and payment firms in the U.K., became part of the FCA earlier this year. 

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

UK's postal service expands cash protections

Older forms of payments are also drawing attention in the U.K. Maintaining access to cash is often the subject of debate in the U.K., as well as strategies to accommodate the increase in digital payments and accelerated branch closures. The U.K.'s Post Office this week signed a five-year deal with Cash Access UK, a bank-led initiative that supports shared banking hubs and deposit services. 

The Post Office, which operates 200 banking hubs, will add 150 hubs as part of the agreement. The shared banking hubs pool resources from different U.K. banks to cover the loss of local branches.

Overall, the U.K. Post Office has more than 11,500 branches. The Post Office recently introduced a new initiative designed to ensure 99% of U.K. bank customers can access their accounts at post offices.  

American Banker/Joey Pizzolato

Shift4 adds stablecoin settlement

Payments fintech Shift4 will enable merchants to opt into payments being settled in stablecoins including USDC, USDT, EURC and DAI, providing an alternative to a bank transfer. The company's clients can also access blockchains such as ethereum, Solana, Stellar, Polygon and Base.  

"As Shift4 becomes an increasingly global company, this offering will support businesses around the world as stablecoins continue to play a growing role in the modern payments ecosystem," said Pietro Moran, Shift4's director of crypto, in a release. Shift4 was founded in 1994 and acquired by fintech Lighthouse Network in 2018, which assumed Shift4's brand. Shift4's former CEO, Jared Isaacson, recently left the firm to become the administrator of NASA. Taylor Lauber is the firm's new CEO.

Lionel Ng/Bloomberg

Mastercard deploys cloud tech in EMEA

Mastercard has joined with Egyptian fintech MoneyHash to offer merchants access to the card network's cloud platform in the Middle East and Africa.The two firms will offer an application programming interface to support payments orchestration, or routing transactions to the best payment option based on cost and processing speed. 

"Our collaboration with MoneyHash represents a fundamental shift in the way payment infrastructure is delivered by moving from complex direct integrations to convenient unified access, addressing a critical pain point," Mete Guney, executive vice president of market development for Mastercard in EEMEA, said in a release. 

Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg

BBVA invests in supply-chain finance tools

BBVA is the lead investor in a $30 million funding round in Olea, a supply-chain finance platform, a move that will also expand BBVA's role as a partner in Olea's product development. BBVA referenced "improving liquidity" in a complex international environment. Banks have been expanding their supply chain technology as tariffs have created liquidity challenges for corporate clients. 

The bank also hopes to expand in Asia, which it says has become a key market for its business clients. The technology projects include using AI, data analytics and blockchain to improve payment processing across corridors in Asia, Europe and the Americas.