SHANGHAI—Ant International has launched a suite of nearly 100 artificial intelligence-powered products for payments, accounts, foreign exchange and treasury operations, including what it describes as an account designed specifically for AI agents to conduct transactions on behalf of businesses.
The company said in a statement the new “Account for Agent” is being offered through WorldFirst, Ant International’s global account business, and is intended to give businesses greater control over AI agents authorized to make payments and conduct other financial activities.
According to Ant International, the account operates using “Know Your Agent” smart contracts and includes real-time monitoring and controls that allow businesses to intervene in an AI agent’s activities.
Ant International CEO Peng Yang unveiled the technology before more than 1,100 executives attending the company’s VOYAGE merchant event in Shanghai, the company said.
The launch comes as financial services companies explore how autonomous AI agents can safely make purchases, move money and conduct other transactions without exposing businesses and consumers to unauthorized activity or fraud.
‘100% Fund Guarantee’
Ant International said two additional products are designed to address some of those risks.
AgentSafePay provides what Ant International described as a 100% fund guarantee covering losses resulting from AI-specific problems, including prompt injection attacks and an agent misinterpreting a user’s intentions.
The company also introduced its Agentic Mobile Protocol, or AMP, which Ant International said can settle agent-to-agent payments as small as $0.000001.
The protocol has 10 wallet partners and seven acquirers participating in its initial phase, according to Ant International. The company said the technology connects with its broader payments network, which reaches 150 million merchants and more than 2 billion consumer accounts.
Ant International said businesses retain control over their accounts when using the new agent technology. Users authorize an AI agent to perform a specific task rather than turning over control of the underlying account, while businesses can monitor and control the agent’s activity in real time.
Extensive Use
The company said merchants are already making extensive use of AI across its payments operations.
According to figures released by Ant International, 89.5% of merchant customers using Antom, its digital payments and financial services business, used the company’s FinAI products during the past 12 months. Ant International also said AI assisted with 81.4% of payment-related tasks.
The figures were provided by the company and have not been independently audited.
The growing use of autonomous AI agents is creating new questions for banks, credit unions and payment companies because traditional identity and transaction controls were generally designed to authenticate individuals and businesses rather than software acting on their behalf.
The World Economic Forum said in July that financial institutions increasingly will need ways to determine when an AI agent is involved in a transaction, what the agent has been authorized to do and whether its actions can be traced to a legitimate individual or business decision.
Ant International said its new system is intended to address those concerns through task-specific authorization, continuous monitoring and the ability for account holders to intervene in transactions.
What Other Companies are Doing
Other major payments companies are developing similar capabilities as the financial services industry prepares for the possibility that AI agents will increasingly initiate purchases and other transactions.
Stripe, for example, has expanded its Link wallet to allow consumers to connect AI agents and authorize payments without providing the agents with their underlying payment credentials. Consumers are notified and asked to approve spending requests.
Despite growing industry investment, autonomous agent-initiated payment volumes remain relatively small as companies work to develop infrastructure for a market that is still emerging.
