Network-data first: an AI optimisation engine sold to merchants as a revenue line, then a multi-protocol bet on agentic commerce (OpenAI's ACP, Google's AP2 and UCP, Visa and Mastercard agent frameworks) and an MCP server for AI coding agents.
How is Checkout.com using AI?
Checkout.com's AI centres on Intelligent Acceptance, a payment-optimisation engine launched in June 2023 that the company says has unlocked more than $20 billion of merchant revenue (as of June 2026), running 26,000 optimisations a minute for clients including Spotify and Microsoft. Around it sit a multi-protocol agentic-commerce strategy (OpenAI's ACP, Google's AP2 and UCP, Visa Intelligent Commerce, Mastercard Agent Pay), an MCP server for AI coding agents, and internal AI that Checkout.com says cut due-diligence time 83%. The company processed $300 billion in 2025 and returned to EBITDA profitability.
Category
Payments
Founded
2012
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Licence and supervision
UK e-money institution (Checkout Ltd, FCA no. 900816); French e-money institution (Checkout SAS, ACPR no. 17208) passported across the EEA; Major Payment Institution in Singapore (MAS); US money transmitter (Checkout US, Inc., NMLS 1791692) and a Georgia Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank charter approved January 2026 and live September 2026; further licences in the UAE, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Scale
$300 billion total payment volume in 2025 (up 64%), full-year EBITDA profitability and over 1,000 enterprise merchants (reported February 24, 2026)
Flagship platform
Intelligent Acceptance
AI leadership
Guillaume Pousaz · Meron Colbeci · Daniel Linder · Jordan Reynolds
- Intelligent Acceptance launched June 27, 2023 with early users including Klarna, Ant Group and NordVPN; Checkout.com reported about $750 million of merchant revenue enabled in beta and acceptance-rate gains of up to 9.5 percentage points.
- By March 20, 2025 the engine had generated over $10 billion in additional merchant revenue ($5 billion in its first 15 months, the next $5 billion in six months), performing more than 60 million real-time optimisations a day and lifting merchant acceptance rates by an average of 3.8% in 2024; by June 2026 Checkout.com put the total above $20 billion at 26,000 optimisations a minute.
- The February 24, 2026 results release says Checkout.com 'has embedded AI into every layer of its core operations': AI-driven policy reviews cut due-diligence time by 83%, AI automates 100% of rejected-transaction distribution, and engineers generate 2.7 million lines of AI-generated code a month.
- Agentic commerce: Checkout.com adopted OpenAI-backed Agentic Commerce Protocol on November 25, 2025, is live with Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, supports Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard's Agent Pay framework, is a supporting partner for Google's AP2, and launched its own MCP server on September 1, 2026 for Claude Code, Cursor and GitHub Copilot, claiming an 81% cut in integration time.
- Its June 9, 2026 Agentic Commerce 2026 report found 33% of consumers expect at least 10% of purchases to be AI-driven within a year, while 24% say they will never delegate purchases to AI and 27% trust no organisation to run an AI shopping agent; consumers would allow an agent to spend about £177 per purchase without approval.
- Fraud Detection Pro, launched October 19, 2022, pairs a machine-learning engine trained on billions of network transactions with merchant-controlled rules; Checkout.com said its fraud tooling saved merchants over $1.95 billion in potential losses in 2022.
- US regulatory build-out: the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance approved Checkout.com's Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank charter on January 12, 2026 and direct US acquiring went live under it on September 9, 2026, with MALPB CEO Jordan Reynolds citing 'AI-powered payment optimization' as one of the benefits of direct network access.
- 2025 results (February 24, 2026): $300 billion total payment volume (+64%), net revenue growth above 30% for a second year, adjusted EBITDA margin above 10%, 1,000+ enterprise merchants of which 63 process over $1 billion a year, and 99.999% uptime.
What is Intelligent Acceptance?
An AI-powered payment-optimisation engine launched June 27, 2023, trained on billions of transactions across Checkout.com's merchant network, that adjusts messaging, routing, authentication, credential lifecycle and retries in real time. Checkout.com says it unlocked about $750 million of merchant revenue in beta, passed $10 billion by March 20, 2025 (60 million optimisations a day in 2024, average acceptance-rate uplift of 3.8%) and over $20 billion by June 2026 (26,000 optimisations a minute). Spotify and Microsoft adopted it in 2026.[1][2][8][9]
What has Checkout.com done on AI, and when?
- Sep 9, 2026
Direct US acquiring goes live under the MALPB[12]
Third phase of the charter journey; Jordan Reynolds said direct network access would deliver 'stronger performance, greater resilience, AI-powered payment optimization' for US enterprise merchants.
- Sep 1, 2026
- Jun 18, 2026
Microsoft selects Checkout.com for EMEA payments[8]
Card acceptance for Xbox, Microsoft 365 and Azure in EMEA, including Intelligent Acceptance, which Checkout.com said had unlocked over $20 billion in merchant revenue at 26,000 optimisations a minute.
- Jun 9, 2026
Agentic Commerce 2026 report[7]
33% of consumers expect at least 10% of purchases to be AI-driven within a year; 72% of UK and US merchants expect consumer adoption to outpace readiness; 24% of consumers say they will never delegate purchases to AI.
- Mar 5, 2026
Forrester names Checkout.com a Leader; 2026 roadmap set[6]
Top score in Merchant Experience in the Forrester Wave Merchant Payment Providers Q1 2026; roadmap includes a connective layer across agentic protocols, direct US acquiring, a platforms service and stablecoins.
- Feb 24, 2026
2025 results: $300 billion volume, back to profitability, AI 'in every layer'[5]
EBITDA profitability with margin above 10%; live with Google's Universal Commerce Protocol and supporting Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard Agent Pay; AI cut due-diligence time 83%, automates rejected-transaction distribution and produces 2.7 million lines of code a month.
- Feb 3, 2026
Spotify signs for global acquiring and Intelligent Acceptance[9]
Spotify (700 million monthly users, 280 million subscribers) will use Intelligent Acceptance, network tokens and authentication services across 180+ countries.
- Jan 12, 2026
- Nov 25, 2025
Checkout.com adopts OpenAI-backed Agentic Commerce Protocol[4]
Support for ACP lets merchants offer checkout inside AI platforms such as OpenAI's Instant Checkout; Checkout.com cites collaboration with Visa, Mastercard and Google on agent-payment standards and forecasts agentic commerce at 21% of monthly household spending within five years.
- Mar 20, 2025
Intelligent Acceptance passes $10 billion in merchant revenue[2]
60 million real-time optimisations a day in 2024, average acceptance uplift of 3.8%, $1 billion unlocked every 35 days for brands such as Vinted, Papa Johns and Delivery Hero.
- Jun 27, 2023
Intelligent Acceptance launches[1]
AI optimisation engine trained on billions of transactional data points; beta users including Klarna, Ant Group, NordVPN, Reach and Sunday saw acceptance rates rise by up to 9.5 points and about $750 million of new revenue enabled.
- Oct 19, 2022
Fraud Detection Pro launches[3]
A machine-learning engine studying billions of network transactions plus configurable risk tools, used by Curve and Delivery Hero; Checkout.com said its fraud solution saved merchants over $1.95 billion in 2022.
Where does Checkout.com use AI today?
| System | What it does | Status | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligent Acceptance[2][8] | Real-time AI optimisation of messaging, routing, authentication, credential lifecycle and retries across the merchant network; over $20 billion of merchant revenue unlocked by June 2026 per Checkout.com. | In production | Generative & agentic AI |
| Fraud Detection Pro[3] | Machine-learning engine trained on billions of network transactions combined with merchant-controlled rules and risk tools; $1.95 billion of potential fraud losses prevented in 2022 per Checkout.com. | In production | Fraud detection |
| Agentic-commerce protocol layer[4][5][15] | ACP (OpenAI-backed), Google UCP live, Google AP2 supporting partner, Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard Agent Pay support, plus verified onboarding, identity and fraud tools for agent purchases. | Rolling out | Generative & agentic AI |
| Checkout.com MCP server and AI-generated code[10][5] | MCP server for Claude Code, Cursor and GitHub Copilot (81% faster integrations claimed); internally 2.7 million lines of AI-generated code a month per the 2025 results release. | In production | AI-generated code & coding agents |
| AI-driven policy and due-diligence reviews[5] | Checkout.com says AI-driven policy reviews cut due-diligence time by 83%. | In production | AML / KYC |
| Operations automation[5] | AI now automates 100% of rejected-transaction distribution, previously a manual task, per the 2025 results release. | In production | AI governance (general) |
Use-case links open the tracker's rules-by-use-case matrix: which documents govern each system type.
What has Checkout.com disclosed in numbers?
| Metric | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant revenue unlocked by Intelligent Acceptance | $10 billion (March 2025) -> over $20 billion (June 2026)[2][8] | Jun 18, 2026 |
| Optimisation throughput | 60 million a day (2024); 26,000 a minute (June 2026)[2][8] | Jun 18, 2026 |
| Average acceptance-rate uplift | 3.8% in 2024[2] | Dec 31, 2024 |
| Total payment volume 2025 | $300 billion (+64%); adjusted EBITDA margin above 10%[5] | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Due-diligence time cut by AI policy reviews | 83%[5] | Feb 24, 2026 |
| AI-generated code | 2.7 million lines a month[5] | Feb 24, 2026 |
| Integration-time reduction claimed for the MCP server | 81%[10] | Sep 1, 2026 |
| Fraud losses prevented | over $1.95 billion in 2022[3] | Dec 31, 2022 |
| Licences and registrations | FCA e-money (UK), ACPR e-money (France, EEA passport), MAS Major Payment Institution, Georgia MALPB, US money transmitter (NMLS 1791692), plus UAE, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand[13] | Sep 29, 2026 |
“Agentic commerce marks the next chapter of digital commerce, and demands a different approach.”[4]
Meron Colbeci · Chief Product Officer, Checkout.com · Nov 25, 2025
“With algorithms trained on billions of data points from Checkout.com's entire merchant portfolio, every transaction processed by our customers strengthens the network.”[2]
Daniel Linder · Senior Product Director, Checkout.com · Mar 20, 2025
“Our return to profitability and the record-breaking performance of our enterprise clients validate the long-term architectural bet we made from day one: that a single, unified infrastructure would ultimately outmatch patched-together legacy systems.”[5]
Guillaume Pousaz · CEO and Founder, Checkout.com · Feb 24, 2026
“Going live on the MALPB is a defining step in our US journey.”[12]
Jordan Reynolds · MALPB CEO and Head of North American Banking, Checkout.com · Sep 9, 2026
Who runs AI at Checkout.com?
Which regulators govern Checkout.com's AI?
| Authority | Why it matters here | Documents |
|---|---|---|
| UK (BoE / PRA / FCA) | Checkout Ltd is an FCA-authorised e-money institution (no. 900816); the FCA's AI update and live-testing programme apply to its fraud models and Intelligent Acceptance decisions affecting UK merchants and consumers. | FCA AI Update (Apr 2024) FCA FS25/5 |
| ACPR | Checkout SAS holds an ACPR e-money licence (no. 17208) passported across the EEA; the ACPR's AI governance work frames how its ML fraud and optimisation models are supervised in Europe. | ACPR discussion document on AI governance |
| EU AI Act | Fraud-prevention models and agentic-commerce tooling serving EEA merchants fall under the AI Act's transparency rules for AI agents interacting with consumers. | Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 Commission guidelines on AI Act Article 50 transparency |
| MAS | Checkout APAC Pte. Ltd. is a MAS-licensed Major Payment Institution (PS20200469), bringing its AI models under MAS's AI risk-management guidelines. | MAS Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence Risk Management |
| Georgia Department of Banking and Finance | Chartered Checkout.com's Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (approved January 12, 2026; live September 9, 2026), the entity through which US direct acquiring and its AI-optimised routing now run. |
Linked authorities have a page in the AI Regulation Tracker; the others are named for completeness and not yet tracked.
What does the public record suggest about Checkout.com's AI strategy?
Analysis by BankingNewsAI from the sources cited on this page. Observations, not advice.
01
AI is priced as merchant revenue, not internal savings
Checkout.com reports Intelligent Acceptance in dollars of merchant revenue unlocked ($20 billion+) rather than cost cuts, which makes the claim large but hard to audit: the figure is the company's own counterfactual on declined transactions.
02
Internal AI metrics appeared only once the company was profitable again
The 83% due-diligence cut, 100% automation of rejected-transaction distribution and 2.7 million monthly lines of AI code all surfaced in the February 2026 results release, with no baseline or method disclosed.
03
Protocol neutrality is the agentic strategy
Backing ACP, UCP, AP2, Visa and Mastercard frameworks simultaneously keeps Checkout.com as the processor whichever interface wins, in contrast to a single-stack approach; its own research shows only a minority of consumers are ready to delegate purchases.
04
The MALPB charter changes the regulatory surface for US AI routing
Direct card-network access under a Georgia state charter means Intelligent Acceptance's routing and retry decisions in the US now run inside a chartered bank, supervised by a state banking department rather than federal agencies.
05
Fraud AI figures are dated
The only published fraud outcome, $1.95 billion of losses prevented, refers to 2022; later releases describe fraud tooling qualitatively.
What is Checkout.com's Intelligent Acceptance?
An AI-powered payment-optimisation engine launched June 27, 2023, trained on billions of transactions across Checkout.com's merchant network. It adjusts messaging, routing, authentication, credential handling and retries on every payment in real time. Checkout.com says it generated over $10 billion of additional merchant revenue by March 2025 and over $20 billion by June 2026, running 26,000 optimisations a minute, with a 3.8% average acceptance-rate uplift in 2024. Spotify and Microsoft adopted it in 2026.
Does Checkout.com support OpenAI's agentic commerce?
Yes. On November 25, 2025 Checkout.com adopted the OpenAI-backed Agentic Commerce Protocol so merchants can offer checkout inside AI platforms such as OpenAI's Instant Checkout. It is also live with Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, supports Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard Agent Pay, is a supporting partner for Google's AP2, and on September 1, 2026 launched an MCP server that connects its payment tools to Claude Code, Cursor and GitHub Copilot.
How does Checkout.com use AI internally?
Its February 24, 2026 results release says AI is embedded 'into every layer of its core operations': AI-driven policy reviews cut due-diligence time by 83%, AI automates 100% of rejected-transaction distribution, and engineers produce 2.7 million lines of AI-generated code a month. The company has not published baselines or methods for these figures.
Is Checkout.com a bank?
In the US, partly. The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance approved its Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank charter on January 12, 2026 and direct US acquiring went live under it on September 9, 2026; an MALPB is a state-chartered institution limited to merchant acquiring. Elsewhere Checkout.com operates as an e-money institution (FCA in the UK, ACPR in France), a Major Payment Institution in Singapore and under payment licences in the UAE, Brazil, Canada and other markets.
Who regulates Checkout.com?
Checkout Ltd is authorised by the UK FCA as an e-money institution (no. 900816); Checkout SAS by France's ACPR (no. 17208), passported across the EEA; Checkout APAC by the Monetary Authority of Singapore; Checkout US, Inc. holds state money-transmitter licences (NMLS 1791692) and the Georgia MALPB charter; further registrations cover the UAE, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Is Checkout.com profitable?
Yes, as of 2025. On February 24, 2026 Checkout.com reported a return to full-year EBITDA profitability with an adjusted margin above 10%, $300 billion of total payment volume (up 64%) and net revenue growth above 30% for the second consecutive year, with over 1,000 enterprise merchants and 63 processing more than $1 billion a year.
Does Checkout.com use AI for fraud detection?
Yes. Fraud Detection Pro, launched October 19, 2022, combines a machine-learning engine trained on billions of network transactions with merchant-controlled rules and risk tools; Checkout.com said its fraud solution saved merchants over $1.95 billion in potential losses in 2022. Its agentic-commerce tooling adds verified onboarding, identity management and fraud prevention for AI-agent purchases.
- Checkout.com launches Intelligent Acceptance, an AI-powered optimization engine that boosts acceptance rates and increases merchant revenue
- Checkout.com surpasses $10 billion in revenue unlocked for enterprise merchants using AI-powered boost
- Checkout.com launches Fraud Detection Pro to combat rise in online fraud
- Checkout adopts ACP, backed by OpenAI, to power agentic commerce for enterprise merchants
- Checkout.com returns to full-year profitability and surpasses $300B in volume, as it positions for the era of agentic commerce
- Checkout.com named a Leader by global analyst firm as it bets on agentic commerce and grows US business
- Consumer demand for AI shopping is forming fast but trust for agentic commerce is still catching up
- Checkout.com selected by Microsoft for digital payment performance
- Checkout.com announces strategic partnership with Spotify to power efficient, scalable payments globally
- Building trusted AI infrastructure with the Checkout.com MCP
- Checkout.com secures approval for Georgia Bank charter, accelerating US expansion
- Checkout.com goes live with US direct acquiring under MALPB charter
- Regulatory: licences held by Checkout.com group companies
- Checkout.com is approved for Georgia limited bank charter
- Checkout.com Is Building Its Own Agent Infrastructure While Backing Three Rival Protocols (Forkast via Yahoo Finance)
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