Payments industry prepares for the rise of "agentic commerce"
A new report comes at a critical time for the payments industry as it prepares for the rise of “agentic commerce.”
The findings show that consumers in Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa are rapidly embracing digital identity wallets and biometric verification.
The study was published by digital payments company Checkout.com and covered 18,000 consumers across 16 countries.
It also found that adoption remains sluggish across Europe and North America.
Agentic commerce is where artificial intelligence agents will be able to shop and transact on behalf of consumers, making robust digital identity verification essential for maintaining transaction security.
The research reveals dramatic regional variations in consumer confidence.
In Egypt, some 68% of consumers trust digital identity as a secure payment method, with 74% also expressing confidence in AI-powered transaction assistance.
The United Arab Emirates shows similarly high adoption rates, with 63% of consumers interested in using digital ID wallets.
China leads the way in biometric authentication, where 69% of consumers prefer facial or fingerprint identification over traditional passwords at checkout. This is a preference that has become deeply embedded in the country’s digital commerce ecosystem.
New Zealand and Brazil also rank among the most trusting markets for digital identity solutions. In New Zealand, 55% of consumers are open to digital ID wallets while 61% trust biometric systems, making it one of the most digitally progressive developed economies.
Brazil shows comparable confidence levels at 52% and 57% respectively, driven by its thriving fintech sector and the widespread adoption of the Pix instant payment system.
The picture looks markedly different across Europe and North America. Here consumer hesitation remains pronounced.
In the UK, only 32% of consumers express trust in digital ID systems, with concerns about deepfakes and facial recognition technology cited as primary barriers to adoption.
The skepticism runs even deeper in continental Europe, where France and Germany show trust levels below 30%. This resistance reflects deeply ingrained cultural values around privacy and data protection.
This has led to wariness of technologies that centralise or store personal identity information.
“Both markets place a high value on privacy and data protection, which has led to resistance toward tools like digital ID wallets and biometric verification,” the report notes, highlighting how regulatory environments and cultural norms significantly influence consumer behavior.behaviour.
Despite regional variations, a clear generational pattern emerges globally. An overwhelming 60% of Gen Z consumers believe their digital identity will become their primary method for online payments in the near future.
However, this generational readiness creates its own challenges. The gap between young consumers’ digital expectations and existing policy frameworks in some countries threatens to deepen the global divide in adoption rates.
A Checkout.com spokesperson emphasised the critical nature of building trust in these emerging systems: “Global commerce requires trust in order to function. Just as we worked across the ecosystem to build confidence in online payments when ecommerce first emerged, we must now apply the same focus to digital identity.”
The urgency extends beyond current applications. As AI-powered shopping agents become more prevalent, the ability to verify consumer identity will become fundamental to preventing fraud and maintaining confidence in digital transactions.
The company warned that failure to address trust concerns now could have lasting consequences: “If trust isn’t earned now, the digital divide will only deepen.”
This highlights the critical window facing policymakers and industry leaders in shaping the future of digital commerce.