GoCardless processes UK's first agentic charity payment

GoCardless has processed what it described as the UK's first agentic account-to-account payment. The transaction was a donation to the charity Trussell.

The payment was completed through an AI-driven checkout on GoCardless's website, where a donor interacted with an AI agent from the initial enquiry through to setting up a Direct Debit mandate.

The process took place within the Financial Conduct Authority's AI Live Testing programme, a regulatory scheme designed to support the supervised use of AI in financial services.

In the donation flow, users can ask about Trussell's work and then choose a monthly donation of £5, £10 or £15. Each option includes an explanation of how the money will be used before the user is prompted to enter bank details to authorise payment.

The development marks an early live example of so-called agentic payments, in which software agents carry out payment-related actions within a conversational interface while the customer retains final approval.

Regulatory testing

The initiative comes as policymakers and payments groups assess how AI might be used in consumer finance without removing user control. The work was carried out under FCA oversight through the testing programme after GoCardless was selected earlier this year.

The UK government has identified agentic payments as an area of interest in financial services, particularly as a test case for wider AI adoption in regulated settings. At the same time, the National Payments Vision has backed account-to-account payments as an alternative to card-based transactions.

That policy backdrop helps explain why the first reported live use case has emerged in recurring charitable giving rather than broader retail. Direct Debit already provides a familiar framework for authorising repeat bank payments, giving companies and regulators a more established basis for testing new interfaces.

GoCardless, which is owned by Mollie, says more than 100,000 businesses use its services to collect, manage and send bank payments. It processes more than USD $130 billion annually across more than 30 countries.

Consumer control

Customer oversight will be central if AI-based payment journeys are to gain wider acceptance, the company argued. It cited its own research, which found that 64% of UK consumers are open to AI managing recurring payments if they retain control over spending limits or final approval.

That distinction is likely to matter as the market develops. Consumer trust in AI tools remains uneven, especially when they move beyond recommending products or answering questions and begin handling financial decisions or payment set-up.

GoCardless said account-to-account payment methods such as Direct Debit and recurring pay-by-bank are better suited to this model than cards because they are designed for recurring collections and can be structured around explicit payer mandates.

"We're extremely proud to have processed the UK's first live agentic bank payment, built under FCA supervision and for a very good cause. The checkout flow is rooted in payer research: 64% of UK consumers are open to AI managing their recurring payments, provided they keep control over limits or final approval. Unlike cards, Direct Debit and Recurring Pay by Bank are specifically built for this," said Hiroki Takeuchi, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, GoCardless.

He added: "We've long argued that account-to-account payments are the natural foundation for agentic commerce, and this groundbreaking transaction turns that core belief into tangible proof."

Charity use case

For Trussell, the test offers a new route to donor engagement at a time when charities continue to look for lower-friction ways to secure repeat support. Monthly giving is particularly valuable because it provides a more predictable income stream than one-off donations.

The conversational structure may also appeal to organisations trying to reduce abandonment in online donation journeys. Traditional checkout pages often require users to move through several form fields and screens, while chat-based interfaces can combine information, prompting and action in one place.

"Every recurring donation helps us reach more people in need. If agentic payments make it simpler for someone to commit to giving, that's a genuine win for everyone as we work to end hunger together. What struck us most was how natural the whole process felt; the giving process is a conversation, not just a form to fill out. That's exactly the kind of experience we want for our donors," Christianne McKenzie, Head of Individual Giving, Trussell, said.

Outside the UK, financial groups are also watching the commercial potential of AI agents in shopping and payments. Morgan Stanley has estimated that AI agents could handle up to USD $385 billion of US eCommerce spending by 2030.

Whether that estimate is reached will depend on regulation, consumer trust and the reliability of AI systems in handling sensitive financial tasks. For now, the GoCardless transaction offers a small but closely watched example of how those systems may begin moving from testing into live payment flows.