Fime, a company based in France that specializes in payments testing and certification, recently unveiled FACT, the Framework for Agentic Commerce Trust. This framework is aimed at ensuring secure transaction management by AI agents among financial institutions, merchants, and various participants within the payment ecosystem.

FACT offers real-time trust validation between AI systems and payment channels. It encompasses intent verification, real-time compliance monitoring, neutral auditor agents for unbiased trust checks, and detailed transaction-level attestation necessary for making decisions and maintaining auditability.

Key Design Rationale and Ecosystem Benefits

To address the existing gaps in compliance, fraud prevention, and accountability created by autonomous AI-driven transactions, FACT is designed as an independent layer. Unlike integrated frameworks within specific payment networks or technology platforms, FACT operates across different systems without conflicting interests.

For merchants, FACT provides a way to trust AI-initiated payments through machine-readable signals. Banks and payment networks gain additional tools for authorization, fraud prevention, and risk management. Regulators benefit from enhanced transparency and real-time oversight. Consumers retain control over their purchasing decisions when delegating to AI agents.

In establishing this shared trust framework, Fime aims to prevent the development of fragmented, platform-centric trust models and promote interoperability within the agentic commerce ecosystem. The company is actively engaging with stakeholders and plans to share pilot updates soon.

Lionel Grosclaude, CEO at Fime, highlighted that agentic commerce is already taking shape in payment and digital environments, and FACT fills a critical gap by introducing a neutral, continuously verifiable trust infrastructure essential for the safe and global growth of autonomous commerce.