/PRNewswire/ –On April 2, a special taxi booking was successfully completed in Hong Kong, China. After the tester entered the booking details into the AI assistant developed by the technology company Evonet, he immediately received a list of available taxi types and prices from the ride-hailing platform Hoppa, as well as a recommended booking option.
As an international card scheme with a global presence, UnionPay has officially released the Agentic Payment Open Protocol (APOP) framework – UnionPay’s solution for agent-based payments – leveraging the company’s platform capabilities and neutrality.
Four critical features that underpin the trust mechanism and interaction model for agent-based payments
The APOP framework aims to establish a unified trust mechanism and interaction paradigm. By connecting players in the agent-based payments ecosystem through trusted routing, it enables any compatible agent, merchant, financial institution and technology platform to integrate on a plug-and-play basis and easily and securely participate in the complex processes of agent-based payments. Specifically, the framework is based on four core functions.
First, it supports agent identity lifecycle management, from registration to information updates to logout. Second, the APOP framework establishes a trust mechanism based on user intent through end-to-end intent management that covers generation, registration, and verification. Third, it offers optimized user identity management. The framework enables single sign-on (SSO) between participants such as agents, merchants and financial institutions, enabling mechanisms to share credentials while maintaining privacy and security. Fourth, the APOP framework provides a comprehensive range of payment authorization services, including activation authentication for agentic payments, payment debit, and user consent verification.
Global industry players are working together to create an open and secure agentic payments ecosystem
The APOP framework follows the principle of openness and interoperability. Building on UnionPay’s global acceptance network, it aims to develop industry-wide standards and create an inclusive framework that enables interoperability between institutions, platforms and use cases within and outside mainland China.
In addition, four other core principles play a prominent role in the design of the APOP framework. First: compliance and controllability. Agent payments must comply with existing regulatory requirements to ensure that the business framework is in line with evolving regulatory trends. Second: safety as a priority. Through agent identity verification and intent management, the framework ensures that agent payment processes are understandable, traceable and fully reconstructable. Third: Increased trust. The framework has clearly defined the responsibilities, rights and risks of all parties involved to provide a solid basis for dispute resolution. Fourth: wide compatibility. Multiple access solutions are offered to enable participants to integrate cost-effectively and seamlessly into the ecosystem while maintaining a high level of scalability.
According to Dong Junfeng, Chairman of China UnionPay, the company will continue to adhere to its vision of “Trusted Connections, Shared Success” and work closely with industry partners to actively seize the transformative opportunities that AI brings. At the forefront of a joint initiative, UnionPay aims to create a new blueprint for agentic payments that is secure, controllable, inclusive, efficient and characterized by global connectivity to take the payments industry to a new level in the age of AI.