Nexi Group and Google Cloud have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop foundational infrastructure for AI agent-based transactions across Europe.
What's Being Built
The collaboration aims to create payment infrastructure that enables AI agents to: Autonomously navigate shopping journeys on behalf of consumers Execute payments via cryptographically signed mandates Operate within predefined spending limits and merchant categories Leverage real-time fraud detection and compliance automation
How It Works
The system uses cryptographically signed payment mandates - consumers pre-authorize AI agents to make purchases within defined parameters (amount limits, merchant categories, time windows). The agent can then execute transactions without requiring per-transaction authentication, while remaining within the mandate boundaries.
Infrastructure Implications
This represents a shift in payment infrastructure thinking: Authentication: Moving from per-transaction SCA to mandate-based authorization Processing: AI agents may generate higher transaction volumes with smaller average values Fraud detection: Google Cloud's AI capabilities will power real-time behavioral analysis Compliance: Automated PSD2/PSD3 compliance checking for agent-initiated transactions
What This Means
Agentic commerce is an emerging paradigm where AI agents act as intermediaries between consumers and merchants. The Nexi/Google partnership is one of the first to address the payment infrastructure requirements - how do you let an AI agent make payments safely, compliantly, and at scale? The answer appears to involve signed mandates rather than traditional card-present or card-not-present flows.