What it does
Agent Suite for Merchants, introduced January 2026 and expanded 9 September 2026, helps businesses put shopping agents in their own commerce environments and make catalog data readable to AI ecosystems. Agent Connect is a single integration so merchants, agents, platforms, and payment providers can transact. Agent Pay is the authorized-payment path. Mastercard also announced Virtual C-Suite in March 2026, plugging into accounting and banking apps to answer cash-flow questions for small businesses.
Architecture
Three stages: discovery, confirmation, consumer-authorized payment. Anthropic’s commerce-agent blueprint is being made available through Agent Suite so merchants can build Claude-based shoppers on Mastercard rails.
Evidence
Mastercard US press release, 9 September 2026. Virtual C-Suite via Open Banking Tracker (2 May 2026).
Caveat
Network product announcements are not the same as published merchant volumes. Treat as a production platform in market, not as a disclosed GMV figure.