Mr. Nick Bednarz reports

MASTERCARD, FLYBITS AND ROGERS ESTABLISH BENCHMARK FOR SECURE, CONSUMER-CONTROLLED AGENTIC COMMERCE IN CANADA

MasterCard, Flybits and Rogers Communications Inc.'s Rogers Bank have deployed a landmark agentic commerce transaction involving an artificial-intelligence-powered commerce platform and a card issuer and payment network, demonstrating how AI-powered shopping experiences can prioritize consumer control, transparency and security.

As AI becomes increasingly capable of acting and transacting on behalf of consumers, the collaboration is helping identify the safeguards, governance principles and industry standards needed to support trusted adoption in Canada.

The milestone builds on MasterCard's global Agent Pay framework for trusted, interoperable and secure agentic commerce. By bringing together financial institutions, merchants and technology partners, MasterCard is helping establish the standards and infrastructure needed for AI-powered commerce to scale responsibly.

"Agentic commerce represents one of the most significant shifts in the future of commerce and payments," said Craig Reiff, senior vice-president, core payments, MasterCard, Canada. "As AI becomes increasingly capable of acting on behalf of consumers, trust will determine how quickly these experiences scale. MasterCard is helping establish the standards and infrastructure for secure, transparent and consumer-controlled commerce in Canada."

As part of the initiative, a Flybits-powered AI assistant acted on instructions set by a Rogers Red credit card cardholder to identify an eligible product within the specified budget and complete the purchase using MasterCard Agent Pay. The transaction demonstrated how AI agents can act on behalf of consumers within clearly defined standards, including validated consumer instructions and predefined spending limits, while providing insights into the controls and safeguards needed to support the next generation of commerce. It also showed how AI-powered assistants can deliver personalized recommendations and help consumers understand how and why those recommendations are made.

New MasterCard research reinforces why consumer control matters to Canadians embracing AI-powered shopping experiences:

• Forty-one per cent are open to using AI assistants to help them shop on-line.
• Fifty-three per cent of those with positive feelings toward AI shopping assistants are open to AI-assisted purchasing within preset preferences and budget limits.

"We are always looking for innovative ways to enhance the customer experience and deliver value to Canadians," said Nick Bednarz, chief executive officer, Rogers Bank. "This collaboration shows how AI technology can simplify commerce while preserving the security, transparency and control consumers expect from their payment experiences."

Flybits provided the agentic intelligence and explainability layer through its platform behind the experience, demonstrating how AI-powered assistants can deliver personalized recommendations while helping consumers understand how and why those recommendations are made. In future phases, Flybits plans to incorporate MasterCard Insight Tokens, a secure and governed way for AI agents to access and apply permissioned insights, aimed at delivering a more personalized and dynamic experiences with consumer consent.

"For consumers to embrace AI-powered commerce, the experience must be transparent, fast and personalized," said Dr. Hossein Rahnama, founder and chief executive officer of Flybits and the Edward Rogers senior chair in AI and human creativity at TMU. "By combining contextual intelligence with auditable AI, we are building a new generation of digital commerce experiences that enable consumers to make more informed decisions with greater confidence, clarity and access to relevant choices."

Together, MasterCard, Flybits and Rogers Bank are working on helping translate agentic commerce from an emerging concept into a trusted consumer experience, with control, transparency and security built into how it evolves.

About Rogers Communications Inc.

Rogers is Canada's communications, sports and entertainment company, and its shares are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange.