Nexi Group has launched a Model Context Protocol enabling AI agents to access its payment infrastructure through conversational commands.
Following this announcement, Nexi Group has launched its Model Context Protocol (MCP), a framework that allows developers, merchants, and partners to connect AI agents to the company’s payment solutions without requiring complex coding integrations.
The Italy-based payments technology group positioned the MCP as a standardised, open-source interface between AI systems and its existing payment infrastructure. The protocol is designed to automate routine workflows and reduce the technical overhead for merchants seeking to build AI-driven commerce capabilities.
A three-stage approach to agent-driven payments
According to the official press release, Nexi has outlined a three-step framework for agentic commerce adoption. The first stage centres on agentic servicing, where merchants can use Nexi's MCP-ready payment gateways to automate routine workflows, as the framework includes permission management, auditing, and tracking of every agent-initiated action, addressing early concerns around accountability and compliance in automated payment flows.
The second and third stages involve enabling AI agents to initiate payments and facilitate full commerce interactions, including product discovery, cart management, and checkout. Nexi is currently running pilots with merchants in the Nordics and Italy, deploying infrastructure to support domestic and international payment methods through agent-driven journeys.
The launch follows a strategic partnership with Google to enable agent-initiated payments through the AP2 Agentic Commerce Protocol, with planned support for the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). The UCP was developed in order to enable payment checkout experiences across Google's interfaces, including Search, Gemini, and YouTube. Nexi is also working with Visa and Mastercard on capabilities that keep consumers in control of agent-initiated transactions, including consent mechanisms, authentication, and fraud-signal capture. In January 2026, Nexi also joined the Agentic Commerce Alliance (ACA), a body focused on making agent-driven commerce accessible and secure across the industry.
The initiative reflects broader momentum around agentic commerce infrastructure in Europe, a market that presents distinct regulatory and ecosystem conditions compared to the US. The EU payments landscape, shaped by regulations such as PSD2 and ongoing Open Banking frameworks, places additional emphasis on consumer consent and strong authentication, areas that Nexi's MCP approach explicitly addresses through permission controls and trust-signal capture.
Moreover, a company official noted that merchants in Europe face significant upfront investment to adopt agentic commerce capabilities, and that the MCP aims to reduce that burden by providing a standardised integration layer. At the same time, the protocol is intended to be flexible enough for partners and developers to build on, while maintaining the compliance and security requirements applicable in European markets.
