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Asian consumers may be poised for the introduction of Agency AI, according to Antom's expectations.

Financial powerhouse Ant Group's division Antom unveils collaborative payment solution in alliance with Mastercard and Visa.

AI Agents Set to Become Mainstream in Asian Retail Market, According to Antom
AI Agents Set to Become Mainstream in Asian Retail Market, According to Antom

Asian consumers may be poised for the introduction of Agency AI, according to Antom's expectations.

Antom, a division of Chinese financial giant Ant Group, has entered the AI-driven payment market with the launch of a new agentic payment solution in the Asia Pacific region. The technology, which is supported by Mastercard and Visa, aims to revolutionise the way shoppers make payments online.

Antom's agentic payment solution offers a unified, vertical-specific digital payment system that supports over 300 merchant payment methods. It operates in more than 200 markets and accepts payments in over 100 currencies, making it a globally accessible payment solution.

The technology is designed to provide a secure checkout process, an AI-ready payment mandate model, and enhanced risk management. Payments can flow naturally through conversations with AI agents, allowing purchases to be confirmed directly in chat. Users can link their digital wallets directly to the checkout page without being redirected to external apps.

However, concerns have been raised about the accuracy of AI in handling transactions. Don Apgar, Director of the Merchant Payments Practice at Javelin Strategy & Research, expressed his concerns about AI hallucinations, where AI mistakenly reports purchases, in a recent PaymentsJournal podcast.

The main barrier to agentic commerce, according to the text, is the need for active customer participation. Antom's challenge will be persuading consumers to entrust their payment data to an AI agent.

Mastercard and Visa have also been active in the AI-driven payment market. In April of this year, they unveiled Mastercard's Agent Pay and Visa's Intelligent Commerce platforms. These platforms enable AI agents to effectively act as personal shoppers, offering the potential for AI to find items to purchase and merchants, as well as handle the optimal form of payment.

Antom's specific founders or main employees are not explicitly identified in the available search results. The company is known for developing AI-agent payment solutions, but detailed personnel information is not provided in the sources.

Shoppers can arrange pre-authorized transactions such as spending limits or scheduled flash sales with Antom's new payment solution. The technology also supports tokenized, card-based payments, bank transfers, and a wide range of digital wallets.

Despite the concerns, the potential benefits of Antom's agentic payment solution are significant. By streamlining the payment process and offering a secure, AI-driven checkout experience, Antom aims to make online shopping more convenient and efficient for shoppers across the Asia Pacific region.

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