The future of commerce arrived today at Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam as payment processing giant Worldline and international financial institution ING completed the first live, end-to-end agentic transaction in production across Europe.

The real-world purchase, facilitated over the Mastercard network between an ING cardholder and a Dutch merchant, demonstrates that AI-powered shopping is not decades away—it’s ready now. The solution operates on identical infrastructure across Belgium, proving its potential for seamless cross-border commerce.

How it Works:

  • The firms simulated a consumer searching for a wedding anniversary gift online
  • Instead of manual browsing, a merchant-side AI agent handled the process
  • The system identified suitable concert tickets within the user’s budget
  • A curated selection was presented to the user for final approval
  • Once authorized, the transaction cleared through ING as the issuing bank and Worldline for processing

Key Innovation: Transparency Through Metadata To address security concerns around autonomous transactions, the system embeds verifiable identifiers in each payment’s metadata. This allows banks like ING to instantly recognize agentic origins while maintaining complete control over authentication—ensuring every transaction is traceable and auditable.

“Agentic commerce is no longer theoretical; it’s production-ready today,” stated Madalena Cascais Tomé, member of the executive committee at Worldline. “Powered by our platform, this demonstrates our readiness across acceptance, acquiring, and issuer processing at a pan-European level.”

The technical foundation relies on Mastercard Agent Pay—a framework that establishes standardized security protocols for machine-to-machine financial interactions. This ensures innovation scales safely with built-in trust mechanisms.

“With Agent Pay, we’re creating the bedrock for secure digital commerce where machines can confidently transact on behalf of users,” noted Brice van de Walle, Mastercard’s executive vice president of core payments in Europe.

This milestone sets a permanent foundation for banks to engage with automated account users—a critical step towards shaping the future of banking and online shopping.