In December 2025, Fiserv and Mastercard announced an expanded partnership focused on enabling what they describe as trusted agentic commerce for merchants. The collaboration builds on their long-standing relationship and targets a new phase of digital payments shaped by artificial intelligence and automation.

The announcement reflects a broader industry shift. Software agents are increasingly capable of researching products, making selections, and completing purchases on behalf of consumers. For payments, this raises practical questions around security, authorization, and merchant control. The Fiserv and Mastercard initiative is positioned as an infrastructure response to those questions.

What Agentic Commerce Looks Like in Practice

Agentic commerce refers to transactions initiated by automated agents rather than humans clicking through checkout flows. These agents may operate within digital assistants, enterprise tools, or consumer-facing platforms. From a merchant perspective, the transaction still needs to meet familiar requirements: clear authorization, fraud protection, and reliable settlement.

Fiserv and Mastercard are not introducing a new consumer-facing product. Instead, they are focusing on the acceptance layer. The goal is to allow merchants to safely accept payments initiated by trusted agents, while maintaining visibility and control over how those transactions occur.

The Role of Mastercard’s Agent Pay Acceptance Framework

At the center of the partnership is Mastercard’s Agent Pay Acceptance Framework. Fiserv plans to implement this framework across its merchant solutions, making it available at scale. The framework combines several established payment capabilities, including tokenization, authentication, and fraud controls, and adapts them for agent-initiated use cases.

Tokenization is particularly important here. Rather than exposing card details during an automated transaction, a tokenized credential is used. This reduces risk and aligns agentic payments with existing card security standards. The integration also incorporates Mastercard’s Secure Card on File capabilities to support recurring and delegated payment scenarios.

Merchant Control and Governance

A recurring theme in the announcement is control. As automation increases, merchants risk losing visibility into who or what is initiating transactions. Fiserv has emphasized governance tools and insights as part of the solution, allowing merchants to define rules, monitor activity, and manage exceptions.

From Mastercard’s perspective, the framework is designed to distinguish trusted agents from malicious automation. This is intended to help merchants benefit from efficiency gains without opening the door to new forms of fraud or abuse.

Why This Matters for the Payments Ecosystem

This partnership signals that large payment incumbents are preparing for agent-driven commerce as a structural change, not a fringe experiment. It also shows a preference for extending existing card and acceptance infrastructure rather than replacing it.

Key takeaways for fintech startups

Here are a few practical points worth noting:

• Agentic commerce is being addressed at the infrastructure level, not as a standalone product.
  
  
• Tokenization and authentication remain central, even when humans are not directly initiating payments.
  
  
• Merchant control and governance are emerging as critical design requirements.
  
  
• Large processors and networks are moving early to define standards in this space.

If you are navigating how automation, AI, and payments intersect in your product or strategy, Your Fintech Story can help you assess what is relevant now and what can wait. Reach out if you want a grounded discussion tailored to your business.