UK-based PPRO announced the initiative alongside founding members BLIK, EPI, Bancontact Company, and DIAS. Other payment schemes have committed to joining. The council will develop common technical standards that define how local payment methods integrate into agentic protocols, so that agent-led commerce reflects the way consumers prefer to pay across global markets.
Addressing a gap in agentic payments infrastructure
According to the announcement, agentic commerce is moving from concept to reality, while the payments infrastructure that supports it is still under development. Global card networks have already introduced frameworks for trusted transactions initiated by AI agents. Questions remain, however, about how local payment options will function when AI agents, rather than human shoppers, complete purchases.
The council brings together payment schemes and other industry participants to address these questions. Alexander Matthey, CTO at PPRO, said consumers need to be able to use the local payment methods they already know and trust, even when an AI agent is purchasing on their behalf. Furthermore, the company also argued that the rules for how local payments work with agentic protocols should be in place from the outset rather than added as a separate layer later.
The timing is significant for local schemes. With card networks already defining frameworks for agent-led transactions, the council is a coordinated attempt by non-card payment providers to take part in setting standards at an early stage, rather than adapting to them once they are established.
Five technical focus areas
The council plans to concentrate on five areas. The first is out-of-band authorisation and session hand-off. The second covers agent identity and attestation for non-card rails, which reflects the council’s focus on payment methods outside the card networks. The third addresses consent, mandates, and delegated authority, which governs how consumers authorise agents to act for them. The remaining two cover disputes, refunds and liability, and discoverability and agent-surface eligibility.
Together, these areas span the full lifecycle of an agent-led transaction: identifying the agent, obtaining consent and authorisation, handling issues after a purchase, and making local payment methods available to agents in the first place.
Working model and market context
The council will operate through working groups, technical collaboration, and hackathons. It also intends to contribute its findings to the wider protocols and frameworks being developed globally, positioning the group as an input into broader standard-setting rather than a parallel effort.
PPRO cited Shopify data showing that AI-referred shoppers convert nearly 50% more often and record 14% higher average order values than shoppers arriving from organic search. On this basis, the council aims to make local payment methods ready to work with AI platforms as commerce increasingly moves towards AI-driven experiences.
For merchants and payment providers operating across several markets, the initiative is relevant because local payment preferences vary by country. The council’s work will help determine whether these methods remain available to consumers as purchasing journeys increasingly run through AI agents.
