Shared standards can help agentic commerce surface the value brands offer and give customers safer, smarter ways to choose and pay. 

Key Insights

• For agentic commerce to scale, customers need trust from recommendation through purchase and merchants and brands need confidence that the full value of their offer is represented.
• No single company will control the agentic commerce experience. Building on open standards gives companies a common way to exchange information and confirm an agent’s authority without requiring everyone to use one platform.
• Merchants need AI recommendations to reflect their full offer before customers reach checkout. If agents miss financing, rewards, service, promotions or protections, merchants may lose what sets them apart and customers may miss an offer that better fits their needs.
• Companies need to know who an agent represents, what the customer requested and what the customer authorized. Building on shared standards helps them exchange that information consistently across platforms.
• Synchrony is contributing to emerging standards and testing ways to make financing, rewards, account information and offers available in AI shopping. Testing with select partners helps determine whether customers understand their options, remain in control and trust these experiences before they become more widely available.

Ask an AI assistant to find the right dishwasher, compare the options, check delivery, factor in reviews and help you decide. It can make the search easier, but if the assistant only sees price and availability, it may miss the things that actually change the decision: financing, rewards, service, protections and the trust built with the merchant behind the offer. That is the central challenge in agentic commerce. Faster search alone will not earn trust. It has to understand the full value of the offer, show the customer why it matters and know when to ask for approval before money moves.

The work ahead for merchants, lenders, payment providers and the broader ecosystem is to build experiences that feel familiar, useful and trusted. Consumers need to see the value, understand what the agent is doing and remain in control when an agent shops or pays on their behalf. A recommendation that ignores financing, rewards, delivery, service or protections may be technically correct and still fail the customer. Merchants need confidence that their products, offers, financing options, loyalty benefits and service promises will show up accurately, so the agent can recognize the full value they bring to the customer relationship. They also need to know when an agent represents a real customer and what that customer authorized it to do.

The customer should not have to know which protocol is working behind the scenes. They should be able to see why an option is being recommended, what value they are getting and what happens before they pay. They should know the agent understood what they asked for, showed them the right choices and came back for approval when it mattered.

Synchrony believes agentic commerce should be built in the open. We are contributing to emerging standards such as the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) and the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), while building and testing capabilities with partners to learn what works as more people use AI agents to shop. Shared standards can help merchants, issuers and technology platforms connect without requiring every company to build around a single proprietary system.

The industry needs standards that let agents, merchants, issuers, payment networks and technology platforms work together while protecting trust and preserving merchant value. Building in the open gives more companies a way to participate and more customers a chance to benefit from agent-driven commerce.

Why open standards matter

Package delivery is a useful example. Different carriers use their own systems, but the companies involved can interpret common information such as addresses, tracking numbers, routing data and proof of delivery. That allows a package to move across handoffs without forcing every participant onto one closed platform. If every carrier described the destination, status and receipt of a package differently, each handoff would create more delay, confusion and risk. Open standards can help prevent the same kind of fragmentation in agentic commerce.

Agentic commerce will require its own shared signals, including who the agent represents, what the customer requested and what the agent is authorized to do. Open standards can help carry those signals across handoffs without forcing every participant onto one closed platform.

AI assistants already help people find products, compare options and decide what to buy. A shopper describes what they need, and an assistant can explain the tradeoffs. As agents take on more steps toward purchase, they will need reliable product and offer information. Merchants will need confidence that requests are legitimate, while issuers will need to understand the customer, payment method and permissions involved. Customers must be able to see what they are buying, how they will pay and what protections apply. They also need to understand what the agent is doing, which decisions require their approval and how they remain in control.

Recent announcements from Sierra and Decagon show how the trust infrastructure for agentic commerce is beginning to take shape. Sierra and Meta published a draft this month of the Personal Agent Protocol, known as Poppy, which is designed to give customers control over what their agents can access while helping businesses identify those agents and set parameters for what they can do. Synchrony is among the design partners contributing feedback as the protocol develops. Decagon has introduced an approach designed to help businesses identify when they are interacting with an agent, verify which customer it represents and confirm what that customer authorized it to do. Together, these efforts reflect a broader need for trusted ways to communicate identity, intent and permissions across agents, businesses and platforms.

These developments matter because trust has to extend from the recommendation through authorization, payment and what happens afterward. Customers need confidence that agents are following the permissions they granted, clarity about which protections apply and a path to recourse if something goes wrong. Merchants need to know that a request comes from a real customer who authorized it. Shared standards can help carry these signals of identity, intent and authorization across platforms rather than requiring each participant to establish trust through a separate proprietary connection.

Emerging agentic commerce standards

That is why shared standards matter. MCP, UCP, AP2 and other emerging protocols form part of the infrastructure for agentic commerce. They can help make commerce more legible to agents, from a brand’s products, inventory, policies and checkout flows to the payment choice, financing, rewards and offers that can help the brand stand out.

Each protocol addresses a different job:

• MCP is about connecting agents to systems and data. It can let an agent use trusted tools and services to access information securely, with the appropriate permissions. In shopping, that could help an agent understand whether financing is available, which offers apply and how to present those options before checkout.
• UCP is about common commerce and payment language. It helps agents understand what a merchant is selling, what is available, how checkout works and what payment or financing options can be presented. For example, UCP could help agents read product catalogs, inventory, pricing and checkout requirements, then present choices such as private label credit cards, promotional financing such as deferred interest, buy now, pay later options, installment loans and other offers, even when a customer does not already have that payment product.
• AP2 is about verifiable intent and authorization. It helps verify what the customer asked the agent to do, what the customer approved and whether the transaction can move forward securely. For example, that proof becomes especially important when an agent is helping a customer use credit or financing, where the ecosystem needs clear signals of intent, consent and approval.

MCP, UCP and AP2 are among the emerging standards that Synchrony is working on with others across the technology, financial services and payments industries. But the point is broader than any one protocol: merchants, issuers and technology platforms need a way to carry product information, the full offer, and trusted signals of identity, intent, permission and authorization across the shopping journey.

The alternative is a fragmented market where every platform, merchant and payment provider builds its own way of exchanging information. Important parts of an offer may never reach the customer: an agent might miss financing, rewards, service or protections while comparing products, making a recommendation or handing off to checkout. Open standards can help carry that context across those stages without forcing every company onto one system.

A merchant risks losing important parts of its offer when an agent cannot read beyond the product listing or checkout page. Product details, inventory, delivery options, return policies, service promises, loyalty benefits, rewards and financing offers all affect a purchase. Open standards can make those details available to agents and understandable to customers, so a recommendation does not default to price or delivery speed alone.

Customers need to trust the recommendation as well as the purchase. If an agent misses financing, rewards or discounts available to them, the customer may wonder whether it found the best option for their needs, even if the payment works and the terms are clear. The agent also needs to present those benefits accurately, operate within the customer’s stated permissions and get approval before a purchase. If something goes wrong afterward, the customer needs clear protections and a path to resolution. Trust depends on the customer seeing the available value, remaining in control and knowing what happens next.

Helping brands become agent ready through open standards

That is where Synchrony comes in. We are helping brands become agent ready so the financing, rewards, offers and protections that help them stand out can show up clearly when customers shop with AI. That gives brands a way to compete on more than price and availability. Open standards give agents, merchants, issuers and platforms a common way to carry those benefits into the shopping experience.

Agents need to be able to read financing options, promotional offers, loyalty benefits, rewards and protections, then present them clearly to customers. If someone is choosing between two products, the recommendation should account for more than price or availability. It should show how the customer could pay and which benefits they have earned, so they can judge the full offer for themselves. That is what agent ready means.

We are working on both the shared standards and the connections that could make them useful to customers. Synchrony is contributing to emerging standards discussions, including UCP work that can help support private label credit cards and promotional financing. We are also building MCP-based capabilities, including an MCP server designed to connect Synchrony financing data and services to AI-driven experiences securely and with permission, using the same APIs we use today in digital experiences. The goal is to make financing and offers available to agents while preserving the identity, permission and authorization signals that merchants, customers and financial providers need to trust the experience.

Our incubation, AI and payments teams have kicked off pilots with select merchant partners to learn how brands show up in agent-driven journeys, what customers use and where the experience needs greater clarity. One test allows current Synchrony customers with an open credit line to securely connect and see their credit limit, available balance and relevant financing options within the AI shopping experience before checkout. Those financing details give the AI information it might otherwise miss, so it can present a fuller recommendation that accounts for how the customer could pay, not just price and availability. A future phase of the work will explore how an agent could present a card offer to a customer who does not already have one, with clear terms, verifiable consent and customer control.

Customers need to understand what an agent is doing and why before they rely on it for an everyday purchase. Merchants need their offers represented accurately and confidence that requests come from real customers who authorized them. Issuers, networks and payment providers need clear signals about identity, permission and authorization, along with established protections and recourse if something goes wrong. Those are the conditions that let each participant trust the transaction.

Build in the open

The rules for agentic commerce are still being written. If every platform, merchant and payment provider solves the same problem separately, fragmentation will limit what agents can understand and make each handoff harder to trust. Common standards can give the industry a more consistent foundation for carrying merchant value and trusted signals of identity, intent and authorization across the journey. That can make agentic commerce easier for customers to understand, easier for companies to trust and more practical to scale.

Open standards will not solve every trust issue, but they can make the signals of identity, intent, authorization and value easier to carry across the ecosystem. Building in the open can give consumers greater visibility and control while helping brands compete on the full value they offer.

The choices we make now will shape whether agentic commerce earns lasting trust. I am optimistic that it will, if leaders across commerce, financial services and technology commit to building the foundation together. Now is the time to join the work and create AI shopping experiences that people can trust, rely on and choose with confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why do open standards matter for agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce will involve many companies and platforms. Building on open standards gives them a common way to exchange product and offer information, identify who an agent represents and confirm what the customer authorized it to do. Companies can use different systems while exchanging information in a form others can understand.

2. How can building on open standards support customer trust in AI shopping?
Companies building on open standards can exchange consistent information about who an agent represents, what the customer requested and what the customer authorized. But earning trust also requires accurate, complete recommendations, clear limits on the agent’s authority, customer approval before a purchase and a path to resolution if something goes wrong. Using a standard does not by itself make an experience trustworthy.

3. How can building on open standards help merchants compete in AI shopping?
Merchants need AI recommendations to reflect their full offer before customers reach checkout. If an agent misses financing, rewards, service, promotions or protections, the merchant may lose what sets it apart and the customer may miss an offer that better fits their needs. By building on open standards, companies can make those benefits available to agents as they compare options, recommend products and help customers complete a purchase.

4. What are MCP, UCP and AP2?
MCP, UCP and AP2 are emerging protocols that address different parts of agentic commerce:

• Model Context Protocol (MCP) connects agents to systems, tools and data with appropriate permissions.
• Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) provides common language for commerce, including product information, availability, checkout and payment options.
• Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) supports verifiable intent and authorization, helping establish what a customer requested and approved before a transaction proceeds.

5. How is Synchrony helping develop open standards for agentic commerce?
Synchrony is working with companies across technology, financial services and payments to help develop emerging standards, including MCP, UCP and AP2. That includes UCP work focused on supporting private label credit cards and promotional financing.

Synchrony is also a design partner providing feedback on Sierra and Meta’s Poppy, a draft Personal Agent Protocol designed to help customers control what their agents can access and businesses verify who those agents represent and what they are permitted to do.

6. How is Synchrony building and testing financing experiences for AI shopping?
Synchrony is building connections that let AI shopping experiences access financing information securely and with customer permission. In limited pilots with select merchant partners, customers with an open Synchrony credit line can see their credit limit, available balance and relevant financing options before checkout. Testing helps determine whether that information improves recommendations and what needs to change for customers to trust the experience before it becomes more widely available.