Santander and Mastercard Complete Europe’s First Live AI Agent Payment

2026-03-03 - 07:23

Banco Santander and Mastercard have completed what they describe as Europe’s first live end-to-end payment executed by an AI agent within a regulated banking framework. Santander carried out the transaction in a controlled environment using Mastercard’s Agent Pay solution and processed it through its live payments infrastructure. The bank designed the test to validate the operational and control framework under real conditions. The system enables AI agents to initiate and execute payments on behalf of customers within predefined limits and permissions, using existing payment networks while maintaining established standards of security, privacy and consumer protection. Matías Sánchez, Global Head of Cards and Digital Solutions at Santander, said: Matías Sánchez “Our role is not only to adopt innovation, but to shape it responsibly, embedding security, governance and customer protection by design. As AI agents become part of everyday commerce, building trusted, scalable frameworks will be essential to unlocking their full potential.” Santander said the milestone demonstrates its technical and operational readiness to support AI-driven transaction models. The bank will move into further testing and scaling, assessing additional use cases and partnerships while maintaining regulatory compliance and operational controls. Mastercard Agent Pay integrates AI agents into the payment process as governed participants, enabling interaction between issuers, acquirers and merchants. The end-to-end orchestration of the transaction was supported by PayOS. Kelly Devine, President, Europe at Mastercard, said: Kelly Devine “With Mastercard Agent Pay, we are applying the same principles that have defined our network for decades, security, trust, interoperability and global scale, to a new era of AI-enabled commerce.” Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by ismode via Freepik