// GLOSSARY -- PAYMENTS & FINTECH
What is Agent Payment Protocol?
Google's open standard (AP2) for secure agent-led payments, built on top of A2A, with backing from Salesforce, Mastercard, Visa, and 60+ partners — handling agent discovery, authorisation, and payment execution.
WHY IT MATTERS
AP2 extends Google's Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol with payment primitives. It defines how agents discover payment-capable services, negotiate terms, and execute transactions — with built-in support for authorisation and receipt verification.
With Mastercard, Visa, and Salesforce backing it, AP2 is positioned as the enterprise standard for agent payments on fiat rails.
HOW POLICYLAYER USES THIS
PolicyLayer provides the policy enforcement layer that AP2 doesn't include — budget caps, spending limits, and approval rules applied to AP2 transactions.