[Edaily Reporter Kang Min-koo ] Korean fintech company Hecto Financial(234340)is moving to upgrade its payment infrastructure in preparation for the era of Agent AI.

Hecto Financial announced on the 27th that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with “t54,” an agent-based financial infrastructure company, to explore collaboration opportunities in the field of AI agent payments.

Through this collaboration, the two companies will explore ways to integrate agent Shinwon and transaction risk management functions into their existing payment and settlement infrastructure.

Under the agreement, Hecto Financial will evaluate the feasibility of integrating t54’s agent transaction risk management platform, “Trustline,” into its “AI Payment Platform,” an AI payment and settlement infrastructure currently under development.

The two companies plan to implement the “Know Your Agent (KYA)” feature on Hecto Financial’s AI Payment Platform. KYA is a concept that extends the financial sector’s existing “Know Your Customer (KYC)”—which verifies customer identity—to the realm of Agent AI; it is a security and authentication technology that verifies an Agent AI’s identity, authorization, and the appropriateness of transactions.

Subsequently, the two companies plan to expand their discussions to include a system that evaluates, prior to executing a payment, whether a transaction requested by an agent aligns with the user’s intent and permitted scope. To this end, they plan to hold working-level consultations to define initial use cases, points of technical integration, and the scope of verification.

Previously, Hecto Financial joined the “x402” ecosystem to address the AI payment infrastructure market. x402 is a payment protocol that enables Agent AI agents to perform payments and transactions using stablecoins without human intervention. Last June, the company completed a proof of concept (PoC) for Agent AI payment technology based on Google’s “AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol),” the standard for Agent AI payments.

t54’s TrustLine is a platform that evaluates agent identity, delegation permissions, and transaction context. The two companies will jointly explore the potential applications of x402 and stablecoins, including a payment environment connecting merchants and Agent AI agents. Specific details regarding participation in the beta program and the method of technical integration will be determined through follow-up discussions.

Choi Jong-won, CEO of Hecto Financial, stated, “In the era of Agent AI, ensuring not only payment convenience but also transaction reliability and security will be a key competitive advantage.” He added, “We will enhance the technical sophistication of AI payment infrastructure and expand related businesses to help domestic and international companies and merchants effectively adapt to the AI-based commerce environment.”

Chandler Fang, co-founder of t54, remarked, “In agent-based payments, it is crucial to verify not only the payment method but also whether the permissions granted to the agent match the actual transaction details.” He added, “Together with Hecto Financial, we will explore a trust framework that can be applied to existing payment infrastructure.”