Mastercard Brings Agentic Payments to Life in Dubai with Majid Al Futtaim

‍A New Chapter in How Payments Are Made

On November 19, 2025, Mastercard formally introduced its AI-powered Agent Pay solution in Dubai, marking the first deployment of agentic payments outside the United States.

The launch took place during the Dubai Future Forum 2025 and was delivered in partnership with Majid Al Futtaim, one of the region’s largest retail and lifestyle operators .

This milestone represents a concrete step toward agentic commerce, where AI systems are capable of executing transactions on behalf of consumers, rather than merely assisting them.

What Is Mastercard Agent Pay?

Agent Pay is Mastercard’s AI-enabled payment capability designed to allow autonomous digital agents to complete transactions securely on behalf of consumers.

According to Mastercard, Agent Pay enables AI agents to:

• Search for products or services
• Evaluate options based on user intent
• Complete purchases using tokenized payment credentials

All transactions operate within pre-defined user permissions and Mastercard’s existing security and fraud-prevention frameworks .

This moves payments beyond manual confirmation toward consent-based automation.

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Why Dubai Was Selected for the First International Pilot

Dubai was chosen as the first international location for Agent Pay due to several factors cited by Mastercard:

• High adoption of digital payments
• Strong regulatory support for AI innovation
• A mature contactless and wallet ecosystem
• A retail environment capable of supporting real-world pilots at scale

The launch aligns with the UAE’s broader strategy to position itself as a global hub for artificial intelligence and digital economy initiatives .

The Role of Majid Al Futtaim in the Pilot

Majid Al Futtaim partnered with Mastercard to provide a live retail environment for demonstrating agentic payments.

The group operates:

• Shopping malls across the Middle East
• Carrefour hypermarkets
• VOX Cinemas
• Integrated loyalty and digital platforms

During the pilot, an AI agent successfully completed a real transaction, purchasing cinema tickets within the Majid Al Futtaim ecosystem .

This demonstrated that agentic payments can function outside controlled lab settings, within a real consumer commerce flow.

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How Agentic Payments Work in Practice

Based on publicly released information, the Agent Pay flow follows these principles:

1. User intent is defined
   Consumers authorize an AI agent to act within set parameters.
2. AI agent initiates commerce
   The agent selects products or services based on preferences and context.
3. Payment is executed securely
   Mastercard’s tokenization and network controls handle the transaction.
4. User remains informed
   Transparency and auditability remain central to the experience.

Mastercard has emphasized that control remains with the consumer, not the agent .

Security and Trust Framework

Mastercard stated that Agent Pay relies on its existing infrastructure, including:

• Network-level fraud detection
• Tokenized credentials
• Real-time transaction monitoring
• Established dispute and liability frameworks

This ensures agentic payments maintain the same security standards as traditional card transactions, even when initiated autonomously by AI systems .

Industry Context: The Rise of Agentic Commerce

Agent Pay is part of a broader industry movement toward agentic commerce, where AI systems act independently within defined trust boundaries.

Industry analysts describe agentic commerce as a shift from:

• Manual checkout
  → Assisted checkout
  → Autonomous execution

Mastercard’s Dubai pilot represents one of the first real-world demonstrations of this concept in live retail payments .

What Mastercard Has and Has Not Announced

Confirmed:

• Agent Pay launched in Dubai on Nov 19, 2025
• First international deployment outside the U.S.
• Live pilot with Majid Al Futtaim
• Demonstrated consumer transaction

Not publicly disclosed:

• Transaction volumes
• Commercial rollout timelines
• Consumer eligibility criteria
• Long-term regulatory frameworks per market

Mastercard has positioned the initiative as an early-stage pilot, not a mass rollout .

Why This Matters for the Payments Industry

This launch signals a shift in how global payment networks view AI:

• AI is no longer just advisory
• It is becoming transactional
• Payment authorization is evolving from action-based to intent-based

For merchants, networks, and regulators, this introduces new questions around consent, governance, and accountability areas Mastercard has stated it is actively addressing.

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Conclusion: From Assisted Payments to Agentic Execution

The Dubai launch of Agent Pay marks a measured but meaningful evolution in payments.

Rather than replacing existing systems, Mastercard is extending them allowing AI agents to operate within trusted, regulated frameworks.

This pilot with Majid Al Futtaim demonstrates that agentic payments are no longer theoretical. They are operational, auditable, and already transacting.

Call to Action

If you’re building or evaluating next-generation commerce systems, now is the moment to:

• Track agentic payment standards
• Understand delegated authorization models
• Prepare for AI-initiated transactions

Because the future of payments is no longer just digital, it’s autonomous.

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