Lisbon, May 5, 2026 (Lusa) – Mastercard conducted the first real transaction with an AI (artificial intelligence) agent in Portugal on Tuesday, using "credentials from a Portuguese card".
The event coincided with the presentation of its Innovation Centre of Excellence in Lisbon.
"What we witnessed today was an 'agentic' transaction [using Agent Pay] made with Portuguese card credentials, in other words, a real transaction," Mastercard's country manager in Portugal told journalists. Paulo Raposo said that commercial deployment is now the only remaining step, as "from a practical point of view, Portuguese cards are all ready to enter 'agentic' mode today."
He said that Mastercard's role in the payment process, enabling all cards, is complete. AI agent transactions include authentication procedures to verify the purchaser's identity, ensure credentials are valid, and confirm the payment is legitimate. Consumers can also cancel purchases at any time if they change their minds.
When asked about the primary challenges in developing AI agents, he said that the company's significant investment in "authentication and certification" ensured agents were credible when deployed. "We must certify them and guarantee the agent is 'good' because we know the AI space will greatly assist consumers and companies, but it will also create challenges," he said.
Regarding the digital euro, Raposo said that the company was closely monitoring the topic. "It is a competitive area for us," he said, adding that it challenges the company to improve.
The manager declined to provide specific investment figures for the Innovation Centre of Excellence. "What I can tell you is that there are around 600 people in this building today. It was an investment that Mastercard made in highly qualified staff. We are talking about people from software engineering, data science, and management. That is exactly our social profile here," he said.
The workforce has an average age of 34. "The hub has attracted talent, and not just local talent," he said, noting that "72% of these people are Portuguese."
This Centre of Excellence for Innovation began five years ago as an embryo and has undergone a process of growth, consolidation, and skill integration, Raposo said. He noted that the team did not plan all these competencies from the start.
"What was clear to us was that there was talent, there were conditions to bring these people in, and we are now at a level where the Centre of Excellence clearly makes sense, it is cooperating in a network with other centres of excellence in Europe," he said.
He described the company as fundamentally technological, saying that while the card remains a fundamental element, they now operate "far beyond" it.
"Our hub is basically innovation," he said, based on core products, cybersecurity, data platforms, fraud prevention, and the use of AI.
Artificial intelligence "is now a layer that applies to everything we are doing, but also product development and product support. In other words, there is a whole specialisation based here in Lisbon," he said, mentioning that the Centre of Excellence works in a network with other Mastercard centres.
Kelly Devine, President of Mastercard Europe, said that the company's commitment to investing in various European markets reflects a strategy centred on innovation. "Portugal has the capacity to host and develop large-scale technological operations, contributing to the country's competitiveness and international strength," she added.
ALU/RYOL // ADB.
Lusa
