New industry council will develop common technical standards to ensure local payment methods can work securely in agent-led commerce
PPRO has launched the Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce alongside founding members BLIK, EPI, Bancontact Company, and DIAS, with other payment schemes committed to joining. The new industry initiative brings the local payments community together to align the rapidly developing agentic commerce ecosystem with how consumers prefer to pay across global markets.
Agentic commerce is moving quickly from concept to reality, and the payments infrastructure underpinning it is still developing. Global card networks have introduced frameworks designed to enable trusted agent-led transactions. However, questions remain around how preferred local payment options will function when AI agents perform purchases rather than human shoppers.
The Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce brings together payment schemes and relevant industry participants to shape the technical standards defining how local payment methods integrate into agentic protocols.
Alexander Matthey, CTO at PPRO, said: “For agentic commerce to continue gaining momentum, consumers need to be able to use the local payment methods they already know and trust, even if an AI agent is purchasing on their behalf. This next phase of development needs to make sure the rules around how local payments work with agentic protocols are there from the outset, rather than treated as an additional layer later on. We are bringing payment schemes together to find practical solutions to technical challenges and ensure local payments play a key role in the development of agentic commerce.”
The council will aim to focus on five key areas:
- Out-of-band authorisation and session hand-off
- Agent identity and attestation for non-card rails
- Consent, mandates, and delegated authority
- Disputes, refunds, and liability
- Discoverability and agent-surface eligibility
With AI-referred shoppers converting nearly 50% more and recording 14% higher average order values than shoppers arriving from organic search, the council aims to ensure local payment methods are ready to work with AI platforms as commerce increasingly shifts to AI-driven experiences.
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The Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce is an industry initiative bringing together the local payments community to help shape how payments operate in an agent-led world.
Founded by PPRO, BLIK, EPI, Bancontact Company, and DIAS – and continuing to attract new members – the council is focused on developing common technical standards for areas including agent identity, delegated consent, authorisation, disputes, refunds and payment method discoverability. Through working groups, technical collaboration and hackathons, the council aims to ensure local payment methods can work securely and seamlessly as agentic commerce develops, while contributing its findings to the wider protocols and frameworks taking shape globally.
PPRO is a leading local payments platform that helps payment service providers (PSPs) and merchants grow their businesses by letting their customers pay local. With a single connection, PPRO activates, accepts, and manages local payments, giving businesses access to consumers in some of the world’s largest ecommerce markets. Trusted for its expertise, technology, and support by world-leading brands such as Citi, PayPal, and Stripe, PPRO allows businesses to build once and connect to a global network of local payment options. PPRO helps businesses navigate the complexities of international ecommerce, enhance their customer experience, and streamline access to local payments.
