Thredd joins Visa programme for AI agent payments in Europe

Thredd has joined Visa’s Agentic Ready programme, a move the issuer processing platform said will allow card issuers in Europe to support payments started by AI agents without replacing their existing payments systems. Consumer payments company Zilch will be among the first issuers using Thredd’s platform to offer the capability to cardholders, according to Thredd.

The programme addresses a developing form of online commerce in which an artificial intelligence agent can act for a cardholder during a purchase. Thredd said the basic controls of card payments still apply, including user permission, issuer approval, authentication and fraud checks, while the operating challenge shifts to proving that the agent has authority to initiate the transaction.

In an example described by Thredd, a Zilch customer could instruct an AI agent to locate a product within a specified spending limit. After the agent presents a recommendation, the customer could confirm the purchase and authorise use of a Zilch card. A Visa Payment Passkey would then use biometric authentication to verify the customer’s intent before the agent completes the transaction with the merchant.

Thredd said its role in the arrangement is to provide a processing and control layer between issuers, Visa and the emerging agent-based checkout model. The company said its participation in Visa’s programme is designed to give issuers a route into agentic commerce through services they already use, rather than through a rebuild of card processing infrastructure.

The initial technical base includes Visa Token Service, which replaces the underlying card credential with a token so that an agent does not handle the card number itself. Thredd also cited device binding, which links tokens to trusted devices, and Visa Payment Passkeys, which use biometric checks to authorise purchases carried out on a cardholder’s behalf.

Thredd said it is also building capabilities specifically for agent-led transactions. These include agent tokenisation, where tokens are designed for use by agents and restricted by relevant permissions and controls, and agent fraud monitoring, where rules assess behaviour patterns associated with automated execution. The company said these tools are being developed on top of its existing tokenisation and transaction monitoring services.

Philip Belamant, Zilch’s chief executive, said in Thredd’s announcement that the partnership with Thredd and participation in Visa’s programme are intended to preserve security, customer control and trust as AI agents become part of customer spending. He said the objective is to give customers more control over how they spend.

Jim McCarthy, Thredd’s chief executive, said issuers need a way to adopt agent-based payment models without weakening security or customer control. He said Thredd’s role in the Visa programme is to provide a bridge for European issuers seeking to become ready for agent-initiated commerce through their existing platform relationship.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.