PPRO Launches Local Payments Council to Standardize AI-Driven Agentic Commerce

PPRO has established the Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce to integrate local payment methods into the emerging AI-driven shopping ecosystem. By aligning schemes like BLIK and EPI with agentic protocols, the initiative ensures that as AI agents begin making autonomous purchases, they can utilize the trusted, non-card payment rails that dominate global markets.

What was announced

On 21 October 2026, PPRO launched the council alongside founding members BLIK, EPI, Bancontact Company, and DIAS, with further payment schemes expected to join. The initiative addresses a critical gap in the "agentic commerce" landscape: while global card networks have begun building frameworks for AI-led transactions, local payment methods (LPMs) risk being excluded from the initial technical foundations of autonomous shopping. The council aims to define technical standards for how these local rails function when an AI agent, rather than a human, initiates a transaction.

The council’s work is structured around five technical pillars designed to bridge the gap between AI platforms and payment schemes:

• Out-of-band authorisation and session hand-off: Managing how a human approves a purchase made by an agent.
• Agent identity and attestation for non-card rails: Verifying the legitimacy of the AI agent.
• Consent, mandates, and delegated authority: Defining the limits of what an agent can spend.
• Disputes, refunds, and liability: Establishing who is responsible when an automated purchase goes wrong.
• Discoverability and agent-surface eligibility: Ensuring local payments are visible to AI platforms.

The urgency of this alignment is underscored by data showing that AI-referred shoppers convert nearly 50% more effectively and record 14% higher average order values than those arriving via organic search. By establishing these rules early, the council intends to prevent local payments from becoming an afterthought in the shift toward AI-driven commerce experiences.

"For agentic commerce to continue gaining momentum, consumers need to be able to use the local payment methods they already know and trust, even if an AI agent is purchasing on their behalf. This next phase of development needs to make sure the rules around how local payments work with agentic protocols are there from the outset, rather than treated as an additional layer later on. We are bringing payment schemes together to find practical solutions to technical challenges and ensure local payments play a key role in the development of agentic commerce."

Alexander Matthey, CTO at PPRO

The companies involved

PPRO is a central figure in the global payments infrastructure space, specializing in the aggregation of local payment methods to facilitate cross-border commerce. The company provides the technical bridge that allows international merchants to accept hundreds of different payment types through a single integration. Joining PPRO in this initiative are several of Europe's most influential payment schemes. BLIK, the dominant mobile payment system in Poland, has recently transitioned from a domestic success to a global contender. The European Payments Initiative (EPI), backed by major European banks, aims to create a sovereign payment system for the continent, while Bancontact Payconiq Company remains the market leader for electronic payments in Belgium. DIAS, the Greek interbanking system, rounds out the founding group.

These organizations represent a significant portion of the non-card transaction volume in the Eurozone. Their collective involvement in the Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce suggests a strategic effort to ensure that the "agentic" future of commerce is not restricted to traditional credit card networks. By collaborating on standards, these schemes are attempting to maintain their relevance as consumer behavior shifts from manual checkouts to automated, AI-driven purchasing.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed the intersection of local payments and emerging technology. We recently covered a major Agentic Commerce Milestone where an AI agent completed its first independent BLIK purchase, a pilot that signaled the practical arrival of this technology. BLIK has been a frequent subject of our reporting, including its integration with Stripe to reach 30+ countries and the launch of recurring payments via mBank. Additionally, we reported on PPRO’s own infrastructure evolution, specifically its partnership with Damisa for stablecoin-powered treasury and global settlement.

What this means

The formation of this council marks a defensive but necessary move by local payment schemes to avoid being sidelined by the global card network duopoly in the AI era. If agentic commerce becomes the primary interface for digital trade, the protocols established today will dictate which payment methods are "discoverable" by AI agents. The focus on "out-of-band authorisation" and "delegated authority" highlights the industry's biggest hurdle: maintaining security and consumer consent without killing the frictionless promise of autonomous shopping. For the broader fintech sector, this raises a critical question: will local schemes move fast enough to set standards before AI platforms bake card-centric defaults into their ecosystems?