Identity and authority move to the foreground
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched Project SAGE on 2 November to support agentic-finance experimentation while developing governance expectations. The programme will explore how to verify an AI agent’s identity and delegated authority, including ‘Know Your Agent’ practices and authentication. It also covers interoperability standards and practical use cases across consumer commerce, business procurement, treasury management and machine-to-machine payments.
Liability and consumer protection remain open questions
HKMA has formed an Agentic Finance Expert Group spanning financial institutions, technology providers, professional-services firms and academia. The group will discuss legal and regulatory issues including governance arrangements, liability and consumer protection. Project SAGE is a framework for exploration and dialogue rather than a final rulebook. Its launch therefore signals the control questions firms will need to answer, but it does not yet settle how losses or unauthorised agent actions will be allocated.
What it means for merchants
Merchants designing agent-accessible checkout should log the agent, customer mandate, limits and approval state for every transaction. Contracts should also address refunds, disputed authority and data use. Waiting for a final standard is risky; these controls are useful now and will make later compliance changes less disruptive.
Read the original announcement
Hong Kong Monetary Authority · 2 Nov 2026This brief summarizes the linked primary source. Claims and reported figures have not been independently audited by Payment Guide.