Ballerine Launches Agentic Commerce Governance Platform for Payment Risk Management in the AI Agent Era

Ballerine Announces New Platform for Agent Commerce

Ballerine Launches Agentic Commerce Platform

Ballerine announces governance platform for agent-driven commerce

On January 15, 2026, Ballerine, an AI-native risk and compliance platform for fintech, officially announced the "Trusted Agentic Commerce Governance Platform." This platform is a real-time operational solution for PSPs (Payment Service Providers) and PayFacs (Payment Facilitators) to prepare and manage merchants for AI agent-driven commerce.

The company has obtained Mastercard MMSP (Merchant Monitoring Service Provider) certification, establishing the infrastructure to provide risk management for the agentic commerce era with this new platform.

Background and Industry Trends

What is Agentic Commerce?

Agentic commerce refers to a new form of shopping where AI agents discover, compare, and execute purchases on behalf of consumers. According to McKinsey research, this sector could move $3-5 trillion in global retail spending by 2030.

A Mastercard executive stated, "A shift as significant as payments moving from physical stores to EC is now happening from EC to agentic commerce." Indeed, CNBC reported that Visa and Mastercard plan to fully deploy AI-driven payments (agentic payment) within chatbots during 2026.

Why Governance is Needed

New challenges arise as AI agents enter the center of commerce. When agents handle purchasing, merchants need "clear policies," "accurate inventory information," and "reliable fulfillment systems." Meanwhile, for PSPs and PayFacs, issues like merchant accountability, dispute resolution, and policy enforcement become more complex.

According to The Paypers, agent-mediated transactions tend to create ambiguity around "who is responsible" and "how to respond to policy violations," creating demand for continuous monitoring infrastructure to address these issues.

Platform Features in Detail

Key Functions and Features

Ballerine's new platform provides the following capabilities:

Merchant Agent Readiness Preparation

• Eligibility assessment and readiness profile creation
• Agent compatibility diagnostics
• Policy configuration support

Real-time Governance

• Continuous policy enforcement and monitoring
• Inventory signal and behavioral signal monitoring
• Dynamic response to catalog changes

Audit Response

• Structured evidence trails generated for all agent-mediated transactions
• Transparency and accountability assurance
• Compliance requirements support

Ballerine co-founder and CEO Noam Izhaki stated, "Agent-driven commerce isn't just a new checkout flow. It's a new operational model for merchants altogether."

Significance of Mastercard MMSP Certification

The platform has obtained Mastercard MMSP (Merchant Monitoring Service Provider) program certification. This can enable acquirers to achieve up to 75% reduction in certain Mastercard fee assessments in some cases.

The company's Chief Risk Officer Cihat Fitzgerald previously served as Vice President of Global Ecosystem Security & Integrity at Visa. He noted, "Agentic commerce changes accountability in subtle but critical ways. Disputes, policy violations, and customer complaints require clear answers."

Impact and Applications for EC Merchants

Implementation via PSP/PayFac

EC merchants won't use this platform directly. It's designed for PSPs and PayFacs to offer as a "value-added program" to merchants. In other words, EC merchants may receive agentic commerce readiness support through their contracted payment partners.

What to Consider Now

Confirm with Payment Partners It's important to verify whether your current PSP or PayFac offers agentic commerce support services or plans to offer them.

Organize Policies and Inventory Management To accurately convey product information to AI agents, return policies, inventory status, and shipping terms need to be clearly organized in machine-readable formats.

Prepare for Audit Trails As agent-mediated transactions increase, evidence preservation during disputes becomes more important. We recommend reviewing your transaction history and decision process recording systems.

Availability

Ballerine currently serves financial institutions, payment providers, and fintechs, with offices in Palo Alto (US), Singapore, and Tel Aviv (Israel). Specific pricing and implementation schedules should be confirmed through individual PSPs and PayFacs.

Summary

Ballerine's "Trusted Agentic Commerce Governance Platform" symbolizes the evolution of payment infrastructure for an era where AI agents take center stage in purchasing. With predictions that 30% of global EC will be influenced by agent AI by 2030, risk management and compliance mechanisms will only grow in importance.

The immediate action for EC merchants is to confirm whether their payment partners support these new governance capabilities and to progress toward machine-readable policies and inventory information. Agentic commerce should be understood not as "some future possibility" but as a reality taking shape in 2026.