Ready to Hand Your Wallet to an AI? Google and Mastercard Are Betting On It.

Hey Toaster Readers,

This week is sponsored by our friends at Fintel Connect.

What if your AI could handle your holiday shopping? That's the future Google, Mastercard, and PayPal are building, with new AI agents designed to securely make purchases on your behalf.

Meanwhile, the battle for your physical wallet is as intense as ever. Chase is tapping Hailey Bieber to market its Sapphire card, while Amex is dropping a limited-edition, mirror-finish Platinum card. The co-branded card space is also exploding, with Cardless raising $60 million and new Bitcoin rewards cards hitting the market. Plus, we're watching some big fintech ambitions unfold, as Revolut confirms it's pursuing a U.S. banking license and Figure’s big $8 billion IPO to modernize lending.

Lots to break down. Let's get toasting!

AI in Payments

(AI) Google, Mastercard, and PayPal Advance AI-Powered Commerce 
Google introduced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), a new framework designed to allow AI agents like Gemini to securely make purchases on behalf of consumers. This protocol enables AI to handle complex tasks, such as booking flights or ordering items, by interacting directly with merchant payment systems, while keeping user authentication central to the process. In parallel, major payment networks, including Mastercard and PayPal, are integrating this type of "agentic AI" to create a more seamless and intelligent shopping experience for consumers, with Mastercard specifically accelerating these efforts ahead of the holiday shopping season. [Google Cloud Blog] [American Banker] [American Banker] [American Banker] [FinTech Magazine] [PYMNTS.com]