Mastercard has announced a significant advancement in its ASEAN AI strategy with the successful rollout of authenticated agentic transactions across multiple markets in the region, alongside plans to establish a regional AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore. These initiatives highlight Mastercard’s commitment to promoting secure, transparent agentic commerce while preparing the region for AI-driven payments at scale.
The first wave of authenticated agentic transactions in Singapore and Malaysia, with additional markets expected to follow, demonstrates ASEAN’s readiness for interoperable AI agents capable of enabling secure and transparent transactions. Mastercard collaborated with UOB for the initial region-wide testing, leveraging the bank’s extensive network across ASEAN to ensure future deployments can scale effectively. At the same time, Mastercard worked with local banks in each country to support localized implementations. These pilots lay the foundation for broader regional expansion as more stakeholders adopt the system.
Safdar Khan, Division President for Southeast Asia at Mastercard, stated, “The first wave of authenticated agentic transactions across ASEAN shows how quickly the region is embracing secure, AI-enabled commerce. With early pilots now live across multiple markets, Mastercard is demonstrating that AI agents can operate responsibly and transparently, giving consumers confidence that every transaction is authenticated and anchored in verifiable intent.” Jacquelyn Tan, Head of Group Personal Financial Services at UOB, added, “Our multi-market collaboration with Mastercard shows how trusted, AI-driven payments can enhance everyday banking and commerce, tailored to diverse lifestyle needs across markets. As adoption grows, we continue to combine innovation and strong governance to scale these capabilities across borders, unlocking greater value for consumers and businesses across ASEAN.”
Mastercard Agent Pay represents the next phase of AI-powered commerce by providing the necessary framework and safeguards for secure AI-initiated transactions. By combining tokenized credentials, verifiable intent, and end-to-end auditability through Mastercard Agentic Tokens and Payment Passkeys, the system ensures that every AI-driven transaction aligns with consumer authorization and trust expectations. As commerce becomes increasingly autonomous, Mastercard is introducing Verifiable Intent, a standards-based trust paradigm co-developed with Google, which creates a tamper-resistant record of user authorization and serves as a shared source of truth for consumers, merchants, and issuers.
Later this year, Mastercard will launch its regional AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore, which will combine its innovation hub, advanced cybersecurity capabilities, and AI expertise to create its largest innovation space in Asia Pacific. The centre reflects Mastercard’s broader focus on advancing artificial intelligence across the region and builds on more than a decade of AI applications within its network, including fraud detection, cybersecurity, and real-time risk management. Supported by deep data assets, established governance frameworks, and over 2,000 global data scientists, engineers, and consultants, the CoE will accelerate AI readiness and adoption.
“Trust is the currency of the AI economy. As connected commerce expands across ASEAN, data is key to transforming payments into seamless, intuitive experiences. Mastercard’s AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore, along with deeper collaborations across the region, will strengthen the frameworks necessary for AI-powered commerce to scale responsibly. By pairing innovation with strong governance, we are laying the foundations for AI-initiated payments that are secure, interoperable across borders, and inclusive for consumers and businesses throughout Southeast Asia,” concluded Khan.
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