Banco Santander and Mastercard have announced the successful completion of Europe's first pilot project of a payment executed entirely by an artificial intelligence (AI) system within a live banking network.

"Agentic" Payments

The system, called Mastercard Agent Pay, has been described by the companies as a milestone in so-called "agentic payments", where software can act on behalf of customers within preset limits and controls. The transaction was processed through Santander's standard payment infrastructure, ensuring that all compliance checks, security validations, and payment routing worked as they would for a normal customer purchase.

Implications and Future Prospects

This pilot project underscores how AI systems can be integrated into regulated financial systems, albeit under tightly controlled conditions. Gartner forecasts that approximately 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028, up from less than 1% today. Santander has highlighted the importance of a responsible approach to adopting AI in payment systems, with particular attention to security, governance, and customer protection.

Key Questions for Businesses

This project raises practical questions for business leaders:

  1. Governance and oversight: How will AI agents be controlled to ensure clarity on spending limits, identity checks, and audit trails?
  2. Identity and trust: How will systems ensure that only authorized actions are taken if software can act on behalf of people or companies?
  3. Risk and liability: Who is responsible when an autonomous agent makes a mistake or misinterprets instructions?