EPAA and HSBC launch APAC working group on agentic payments

The Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA) and HSBC have formed a new working group dedicated to figuring out how AI agents should be allowed to spend money. The AI & Agentic Payments Working Group, launched in mid-July 2026 with HSBC as a founding member, is tasked with building the plumbing that would let autonomous software handle transactions across the Asia-Pacific region without a human clicking “confirm.”

Agentic payments are transactions initiated and completed by AI systems operating under preset rules, no manual authorization required.

What the working group actually does

The group’s mandate covers three core areas: defining who’s liable when an AI agent makes a bad payment, setting standards for how these agents prove their identity, and making sure different payment ecosystems can actually talk to each other.

Identity verification for AI agents presents its own challenges. Traditional payments rely on human authentication, things like passwords, biometrics, and two-factor codes. An AI agent doesn’t have a fingerprint. The working group needs to develop registration and authentication protocols that let payment networks distinguish between legitimate AI agents and malicious ones attempting to exploit automated systems.

Interoperability is the third pillar. Asia-Pacific is a patchwork of payment networks, regulatory regimes, and banking standards. Getting AI agents to operate seamlessly across Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia requires coordination that doesn’t currently exist.

HSBC’s bet and the broader industry trend

HSBC’s role as a founding member isn’t surprising. The bank has been investing heavily in digital payment infrastructure and global solutions. Mastercard has launched its own Agentic Payments Program, and Visa has been exploring how AI technologies can be woven into commerce.

Where crypto fits in

The EPAA and HSBC announcement doesn’t reference any specific cryptocurrency tokens or blockchain projects. This is a traditional finance initiative through and through, at least for now.

The risk is that traditional finance builds its own walled gardens. If HSBC, Mastercard, and Visa create proprietary agentic payment standards that don’t interoperate with open protocols, crypto rails could be locked out entirely. The working group’s emphasis on interoperability is encouraging, but “interoperable” in banking parlance doesn’t always mean what crypto builders hope it means.

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