HSBC Joins APAC Push to Set Standards for Agentic AI Payments

Agentic AI — where software agents execute transactions and make decisions autonomously — is moving from theory to practice in Asia Pacific, but the region lacks a critical piece of infrastructure: a clear legal framework for when these agents get it wrong. The Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA) has launched an APAC working group with HSBC as its founding member to build exactly that.

The working group will tackle the core questions that keep bank compliance officers and fintech founders up at night: who is liable when an AI agent exceeds its mandate, how do you authenticate an autonomous software actor, and what happens when a fraudster exploits an agent's decision-making loop? Over an 18-month engagement with ASEAN and APEC regulators, the group aims to produce formal policy proposals by November 2027 — timed for the 51st ASEAN Summit and APEC Economic Leaders' Week.

HSBC brings real-world experience to the table. Nicholas Soo, the bank's Managing Director and Asia Head of Payment Products, noted that HSBC has already run pilot agentic commerce transactions where B2B payments were executed end-to-end with control and transparency. That practical insight will be invaluable for a committee of 10 to 12 organisations and a wider working group of up to 30 members, all drawn from banks, payment networks, fintechs, and technology platforms across the region.

Singapore is a natural home for this initiative. The city-state has positioned itself as a testbed for responsible AI deployment in financial services, with MAS issuing digital banking licences and AI governance frameworks that other ASEAN markets look to as templates. The EPAA's Singapore base means local fintechs and banks will have a front-row seat as these standards take shape — and early input into rules that will govern agentic commerce across the region for the next decade.

Why it matters for Singapore: Singapore-based financial institutions are already deploying AI agents for trade finance, cross-border payments, and compliance. Without regional standards, every cross-border agentic transaction carries legal uncertainty. The EPAA working group offers a chance to shape the rules before they're written elsewhere — and Singapore's MAS is well-positioned to influence the outcome through its ASEAN channels. For any fintech building agentic payment rails in Singapore, the next 18 months will define the compliance landscape they operate in for years to come.