News

Open, collaborative initiative to establish identity, preserve intent, and make trust measurable in AI-initiated commerce

Lehi, UT and New York, NY – March 24, 2026 — IXOPAY, the enterprise-grade global payment infrastructure platform built for the era of agentic commerce, and Zip, the digital financial services company offering innovative, people-centred products, today announced a joint initiative to define a Unified Trust Layer — an open industry framework designed to address emerging trust and liability challenges in agent-initiated commerce and payments.

Agentic commerce introduces a structural shift in payments. Traditional infrastructure was built around a four-party risk model — consumer, merchant, issuing bank, and acquiring bank — with the assumption that a human initiated the transaction. As AI agents begin acting autonomously, that model no longer holds. Payment systems were not designed to consistently preserve identity, intent, and context in a machine-verifiable way, leaving merchants to bear the burden of authentication without the benefit of fraud filters, security protocols, or shared liability with issuers.

With this risk shifting downstream, merchants will face increased chargebacks, elevated false declines due to fraud systems misclassifying legitimate agents, and reduced visibility into customer relationships as agents intermediate the experience. Industry leaders recognize the urgency: according to a recent Accenture study, 87% of financial institution chief technology officers and payments heads believe trust will be the most significant barrier to agentic payments adoption, and 78% expect fraud to increase significantly as agentic commerce scales.

The Unified Trust Layer Framework

Confronting this structural shift head-on, IXOPAY and Zip are developing a Unified Trust Layer framework, an open industry initiative that embeds transparency, auditability, and interoperability into agent-driven transactions, setting a new standard for trust in agentic commerce. The framework seeks to aggregate and orchestrate trust signals across providers, networks, and protocols while preserving merchant-owned, portable trust artifacts.

“Payments infrastructure wasn’t built for autonomous actors,” said Jill Willard, Chief Technology Officer at IXOPAY. “When AI agents initiate transactions, merchants still carry the liability, but the system doesn’t consistently preserve identity and intent in a defensible way. At IXOPAY, we view tokenization and orchestration as programmable trust infrastructure, giving merchants control, portability, and auditability across fragmented ecosystems. This initiative is about extending that integrated foundation to agentic commerce.”

“Traditional fraud models rely heavily on static credentials,” said Rory Herriman, Chief Technology and Operations Officer at Zip. “But agents aren’t people, and their risk doesn’t show up the same way. We’ve connected millions of consumers with tens of thousands of merchants through our ability to establish trust using behavioral and contextual signals. As machines begin transacting on behalf of humans, that same discipline needs to be applied to agent behavior. This framework is about making trust measurable and explainable in a system that was never built for it.”

From Payment Orchestration to Trust Orchestration

In an agentic environment, orchestration evolves from routing transactions to managing tokenized trust across protocols and providers. The proposed Unified Trust Layer centers on three capabilities:

• Agent Identity Validation: Normalizing identity verification and behavior patterns across fragmented agentic protocols.
• Intent Capture and Preservation: Binding explicit human consent and transaction context into an immutable, replayable record.
• Contextual Trust Signaling: Aggregating agent behavioral signals across providers, networks, and protocols to support informed authorization decisions and strengthen dispute defensibility.

Together, IXOPAY and Zip combine merchant-owned, provider-agnostic tokenization with real-time behavioral intelligence.

Open and Collaborative

The Unified Trust Layer is an open framework in development. IXOPAY and Zip invite merchants, networks, platforms, and ecosystem participants to help shape how identity, intent, and trust should function in agentic commerce.

Learn more about the framework, and how to participate at our upcoming webinar on April 8, 2026 here: https://www.ixopay.com/unified-trust

About IXOPay

IXOPAY is the enterprise-grade global payment infrastructure platform built for the era of agentic commerce, equipping merchants and businesses with AI-driven intelligence, orchestration, advanced tokenization, and the tools to power every step of their payments journey. From routing and compliance to customized modules and full-scale orchestration, IXOPAY delivers the infrastructure for faster integrations, higher approval rates, and seamless global expansion. Learn more at www.ixopay.com.

About Zip

Zip Co Limited (ACN 139 546 428) (ASX: ZIP) is a digital financial services company, offering innovative and people-centred products. Operating in two core markets - Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and the United States (US), Zip offers access to point-of-sale credit and digital payment services, connecting millions of customers with its global network of tens of thousands of merchants.

Founded in Australia in 2013, Zip provides fair, flexible and transparent payment options, helping customers to take control of their financial future and helping merchants to grow their businesses.

For more information, visit: www.zip.co

NEW YORK, NY — February 17, 2026 — Zip (ASX: ZIP), the digital financial services company offering innovative, people-centered products for everyday Americans, today announced the launch of its new brand platform, “In You We Trust”, which articulates Zip’s belief in customers’ financial choices and guides how the company shows up through its products, policies, and partnerships. The platform launches with “You Trust Me?,” a national campaign, developed in partnership with Majority Agency and Noble People, running from February through June 2026.

As some traditional financial institutions continue to rely on established, institution-led approaches to flexibility, Zip is taking a different stance. “We’ve heard it again and again from our customers. They trust themselves more than institutions, and we agree,” said Jinal Shah, Chief Marketing and Customer Officer. “Through this brand platform, we put that belief into action by backing customers with tools designed for real life, offering access, transparency, and flexibility that reflect how they actually manage their money.”

The brand platform was born from real conversations with customers who have often been overlooked by traditional financial systems. In addition to the campaign, Zip’s product team has made thoughtful evolutions to the app experience and introduced new payment constructs and features that deepen the trust experience beyond the campaign.

The launch campaign recognizes customers as considered and capable financial decision-makers. The creative builds from everyday moments into playfully exaggerated scenarios where customers ask Zip “You Trust Me?” The response is always the same: Zip trusts you with your money. The campaign highlights product constructs (from flexible payment dates to clear, upfront fees) designed to enable this trust and features one of Zip’s customers, Destiny Modeste, in the campaign’s anthem video, grounding the platform in real customer experiences.

“Being known as trustworthy is our north star. To earn trust, you have to give trust,” Shah added. “This platform reflects a simple belief at the heart of Zip: people deserve financial tools that work with them, not against them.”

Asset Available:

Campaign Anthem Video

About Zip

Zip Co Limited (ACN 139 546 428) (ASX: ZIP) is a digital financial services company offering innovative and people-centered products. Operating in two core markets — Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and the United States (US), Zip offers access to point-of-sale credit and digital payment services, connecting millions of customers with its global network of tens of thousands of merchants.

Founded in Australia in 2013, Zip provides flexible and transparent payment options, helping customers to take control of their financial future and helping merchants to grow their businesses.

For more information, visit: www.zip.co

Eligibility criteria apply. Loans through Zip are originated by WebBank.

About Majority Agency

Majority is an Atlanta-based creative agency co-founded in 2021 by Shaquille O’Neal and Omid Farhang. Majority combines a multicultural talent model with award-winning general market capabilities, on the belief that diversity is the ultimate competitive advantage for ideas that land in culture. To learn more about Majority, visit: https://majorityagency.com.

About Noble People

Noble People is an award-winning, New York-based media agency that combines creativity, data, and measurement to drive business results for brands. The agency specializes in media strategy and activation across all channels, guided by data, powered by big thinking, and grounded in a no-bull approach. Noble People's clients include Atlassian, CoreWeave, BJ's Wholesale Club, Justworks, Mike's Hot Honey, PWHL, and Ripple.

NEW YORK, NY — February 5, 2026 — Zip (ASX: ZIP), the digital financial services company offering innovative, people-centered products for underestimated Americans, today announced the launch of Pay in 2¹, a new payment option that allows consumers to split a purchase into two installments paid over two weeks.

Pay in 2 offers customers more control and flexibility to choose the payment plan that works best for them, making everyday purchases more manageable. While Zip’s Pay in 4 offering has helped millions of customers manage larger purchases over six weeks, Pay in 2 is designed to help manage cash flow and everyday spending within a single billing cycle.

“Pay in 2 feels manageable and intentional, fitting naturally between paychecks,” said Destiny Modeste, a Zip customer. “It wraps up quickly, before it becomes something I have to track, which makes those everyday moments feel genuinely stress-free.”²

The launch of Pay in 2 follows a recent pilot that highlighted strong demand for a shorter installment option designed for everyday spending. Notably, 95% of surveyed participants said they would use Pay in 2 again, with future use centered on everyday needs like groceries and bills.³

"We are constantly listening to our customers to understand how they want to pay and are committed to empowering them with alternatives to traditional high-interest credit products," said Joe Heck, US CEO at Zip. "Pay in 2 offers the flexibility to bridge the time between paychecks for smaller, recurring purchases without the commitment of a longer installment plan."

Zip is introducing a limited-time incentive for early adopters. From February 9 through February 15, the first 100 customers per day to successfully start a purchase using Pay in 2 will receive one year of no origination fees on every subsequent Pay in 2 order. Terms and conditions apply.

About Zip

Zip Co Limited (ACN 139 546 428) (ASX: ZIP) is a digital financial services company, offering innovative and people-centred products. Operating in two core markets - Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and the United States (US), Zip offers access to point-of-sale credit and digital payment services, connecting millions of customers with its global network of tens of thousands of merchants.

Founded in Australia in 2013, Zip provides flexible and transparent payment options, helping customers to take control of their financial future and helping merchants to grow their businesses.

For more information, visit: www.zip.co

Loans through Zip are originated by WebBank

Zip Empowers Customers With Flexibility and Control This Holiday Season

Zip Co (ASX: ZIP), the digital financial services company offering innovative, people-centred products, safely processed approximately 1.6m transactions at over 280,000 locations across the Group over the 2025 Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend.

United States

Customers continue to primarily use Zip for non-discretionary purchases, providing them with the confidence to manage their holiday spend flexibly.

• What customers are spending on: The most popular categories for Zip customers were groceries, online marketplaces, tech and electronics, and fashion. The fastest growing categories were service stations and convenience stores, automotive, beauty, restaurants and groceries.
• Who’s using Zip: Millennials accounted for 51% of transactions, followed by Gen Z, Gen X, and Boomers with growth exhibited across all customer cohorts.
• Where customers are spending: In-store payments accounted for 28% of total US orders, up from 22% over the 2024 BFCM weekend, demonstrating that brick-and-mortar retail continues to remain popular with customers.
• Peak shopping moments: The peak shopping day was Black Friday with the peak hour of activity between 2pm - 3pm and the peak minute of activity between 2.23pm - 2.24pm. The afternoon (between 1pm - 5pm) saw the greatest activity across the 2025 BFCM weekend. Zip saw the strongest year-on-year growth across daytime users (from 11am - 8pm), with growth across all time periods.

Australia and New Zealand

Customers are increasingly using Zip’s digital Visa card proposition for both online and in-store purchases, particularly for everyday spend. This resulted in our customers transacting at more locations this BFCM weekend than ever.

• What customers are spending on: The most popular categories for Zip customers were everyday spend categories (such as groceries, service stations and bills), as well as more traditional BFCM spend categories online marketplaces, electronics and department stores. The fastest growing categories were digital goods such as games and applications.
• Who’s using Zip: Millennials accounted for 44% of transactions, followed by Gen Z, Gen X and Boomers with growth exhibited across all customer cohorts.
• Where customers are spending: In-store purchases accounted for almost half of transactions, reinforcing customers’ continued demand for omnichannel products and experiences.
• Peak shopping moments: The peak minute of transacting was recorded on Black Friday between 9.40pm - 9.41pm, with the peak shopping day being Black Friday. The afternoon (between 1pm - 5pm) saw the greatest activity across the 2025 BFCM weekend, with year-on-year growth exhibited across all time periods but particularly across early morning users (pre 7am).

ENDS

Media Contact

For any media enquiries, please contact:

• US enquiries: press@zip.co
• ANZ enquiries: media.relations@zip.co

About Zip

Zip Co Limited (ACN 139 546 428) (ASX: ZIP) is a digital financial services company, offering innovative and people-centred products. Operating in two core markets - Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and the United States (US), Zip offers access to point-of-sale credit and digital payment services, connecting millions of customers with its global network of tens of thousands of merchants.

Founded in Australia in 2013, Zip provides fair, flexible and transparent payment options, helping customers to take control of their financial future and helping merchants to grow their businesses.

For more information, visit: http://www.zip.co. US loans through the Zip app and Zip Checkout are originated by WebBank.

Disclaimer All data presented are unaudited and subject to adjustment. In the US, data reflects Friday, November 28 2025, 12.00am ET to Monday, December 1 2025, 11.59pm ET. In ANZ, data reflects Friday, November 28 2025, 12.00am AEDT to Monday, December 1 2025, 11.59pm AEDT.