Santander and Mastercard have carried out what they claim is Europe’s first end‑to‑end payment executed by an AI agent in a regulated banking environment, a key step toward AI systems that could soon independently complete customer transactions.

The transaction was processed in a controlled environment using Mastercard’s Agent Pay system, before being routed through the bank’s live payments infrastructure to validate the operational and control framework under real-world conditions.

Santander said that the new framework allows AI agents to initiate and execute payments on customers’ behalf within predefined limits and permissions. In practical terms, the bank said the system could allow an AI agent to safely complete transactions over existing payment networks, meeting rigorous security, privacy, and consumer‑protection requirements.

“At Santander, we see AI as a transformative force in the evolution of payments,” said Matías Sánchez, global head of cards and digital Solutions at Santander.

“Our role is not only to adopt innovation, but to shape it responsibly, embedding security, governance and customer protection by design. As AI agents become part of everyday commerce, building trusted, scalable frameworks will be essential to unlocking their full potential.”

The bank said that the milestone confirms its technical and operational readiness to support AI-driven transaction models. That puts Santander ahead of the curve, with recent findings from MIT showing that while 70% of banking institutions are either exploring or piloting agentic AI, and 95% trust it for advice, only around a third consider it capable of fully autonomous tasks.

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Some have raced ahead, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia completing Australia’s first fully authorised “agentic transactions” in January, also using Mastercard Agent Pay, while Singapore’s DBS Bank recently became the first in the Asia‑Pacific to pilot “agentic commerce”, using Visa’s Intelligent Commerce framework to see AI agents make real‑world, everyday payments for customers.

Santander is exercising caution, however, with the bank stating that, ahead of a wider commercial rollout, the technology will now move into extended testing and scaling, with the bank exploring additional use cases and partnerships while maintaining strong controls and regulatory alignment.

“Agentic payments represent a profound shift in how commerce is initiated and executed. This milestone with Banco Santander demonstrates that innovation and trust can advance together,” said Kelly Devine, president for Europe at Mastercard.

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