Mastercard has rolled out authenticated agentic payment transactions in Singapore and Malaysia, marking the first phase of its AI-powered payments push in ASEAN.
The rollout was carried out with United Overseas Bank (UOB) for regional testing, alongside local banks in each market to support implementation. More ASEAN markets are expected to follow.
The pilots aim to pave the way for wider adoption on trusted payment rails as more participants join the ecosystem.
The initiative is powered by Mastercard Agent Pay, which enables AI-driven transactions using tokenised credentials, verifiable intent and end-to-end auditability via Agentic Tokens and Payment Passkeys. This ensures transactions initiated by AI remain aligned with user authorisation.
Mastercard said “verifiable intent”, co-developed with Google, creates a tamper-resistant record of user-approved actions when AI agents transact on their behalf, providing a shared reference for issuers, merchants and consumers.
Separately, Mastercard plans to launch a regional AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore later this year. The facility will be its largest innovation hub in Asia-Pacific, bringing together capabilities in AI, cybersecurity, payments, fraud detection and real-time risk management.
Jacquelyn Tan said the collaboration highlights how trusted, AI-enabled payments can enhance everyday banking and commerce across diverse markets, while maintaining strong governance as adoption scales.
Safdar Khan said the rollout underscores ASEAN’s rapid uptake of secure, AI-driven commerce, adding that early pilots show AI agents can operate responsibly and transparently with transactions anchored in verified user intent.
