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UK merchants report growing exposure to AI-initiated transactions, TPA finds

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 — 16:40:02 (UTC)

UK Merchants Report Growing Exposure to AI-Initiated Transactions, says The Payments Association

London – Tuesday, May 19th 2026 – The Payments Association (TPA), the trade body representing the payments industry, has published new research showing that nearly six in ten UK retail merchants believe they have observed AI agent activity on their platforms.

Led by its Merchant Payments Working Group, the report titled Agentic commerce in UK retail: An unresolved liability question warns that merchant adoption of AI-led purchasing is accelerating faster than the liability, authentication and operational frameworks required to support it.

The report examines the emergence of autonomous AI agents capable of independently searching for products, selecting merchants and executing purchases on behalf of consumers.

The Payments Association surveyed 100 senior finance, payments and risk leaders at UK online retail businesses during Q1 2026 and found that 58% believe AI-initiated transactions have already reached their platforms. Underscoring the perceived importance of this shift, no respondents described agentic commerce as irrelevant to their business. Preparation is underway across the sector, with 72% of merchants currently preparing or planning their approach to autonomous AI purchasing.

Despite growing adoption, the report warns that agentic commerce is creating major uncertainty around liability when transactions go wrong.

When presented with a hypothetical scenario of a disputed £2,000 purchase made by an AI agent, no clear consensus emerged. 24% stated liability would depend on specific circumstances, 21% favoured a shared liability model, and 18% believed the AI vendor should be held responsible. Only 41% of respondents overall feel very confident in current liability frameworks.

Emma Banymandhub, CEO of The Payments Association, said: "Agentic commerce is arriving faster than many merchants expected. The Paypers' Global Ecommerce Report 2026 projects that AI agents could drive 25–30% of all global online purchases by 2030, and Visa, Mastercard, Google, OpenAI and the FIDO Alliance have all moved this year to publish open protocols for agent-initiated checkout. The concern is that businesses are already processing AI-initiated transactions without the controls, liability clarity or transaction visibility needed to manage the risks properly, fraud engines built around human behavioural signals are misfiring on legitimate agent traffic, and the question of who carries the loss when an agent transacts incorrectly remains unresolved.

“The industry is already coalescing around 'Know Your Agent' (KYA) as a complement to existing KYB and KYC obligations, and UK regulators, including the FCA, have signalled they are reviewing how existing rules apply to agent-initiated payments. Over the next 12 months, the industry will need to converge on common standards for authentication, accountability and consumer protection if trust in these systems is to scale safely."

The report arrives as the global market moves in parallel, with major payment networks including Visa and Mastercard having recently introduced frameworks for agentic commerce. However, the Association warns that many of these identifiers and protocols are not yet widely available in the UK market. This leaves many merchants unable to definitively identify when AI agents are initiating transactions on their platforms.

The Payments Association’s Merchant Payments Working Group is urging merchants to begin auditing fraud systems, reviewing controls, and assessing payment provider readiness ahead of expected UK regulatory scrutiny in 2026. The findings suggest that merchants with formal policies already in place are nearly four times more likely to feel confident in liability frameworks than those without, suggesting that early internal governance is the strongest predictor of commercial readiness.

The full report is available via Payments Intelligence, The Payments Association’s research and insights platform.

Notes to editors  The research was conducted in spring 2026 via the Opinium B2B omnibus among 100 senior finance and risk decision-makers at UK retail merchants with an online presence. The panel was structured as a targeted specialist sample, with respondents split across small merchants (under £50 million in annual transaction volume), medium (£50 million to £500 million) and large (over £500 million). Opinium is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

ENDS

About The Payments Association 

The Payments Association is a community for all companies in payments, whatever their size, capability, location or regulatory status. Its purpose is to empower the payments sector, so that the connections, collaboration and learning shape an industry that works for all. It works closely with industry stakeholders such as the Bank of England, the FCA, HM Treasury, the PSR, Pay.UK, UK Finance and Innovate Finance.

Through its comprehensive programme of activities and with guidance from an independent Advisory Board of leading payments experts, The Payments Association facilitates the connections that join the ecosystem together and make it stronger. These activities include a programme of digital and face-to-face events, including the annual PAY360 and FC360 conferences, The PAY360 Awards dinner, PA@TheCity, CEO roundtables, workshops, webinars, and training activities.  

The Payments Association also runs eight stakeholder working groups: Cross-border, Digital Currencies, ESG, Financial Crime, Financial Inclusion, Merchant Payments, Open Banking and Regulatory. The volunteers in these groups represent the industry and collaborate to ensure their driving issues are addressed effectively. TPA also produces a series of thought leadership outputs, including our Payments Intelligence reports, whitepapers, articles, podcasts, and video interviews. 

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Source: Company press release.

Categories: Reports and research