Kira launches AI-agent banking product for third-party cross-border payments

Kira unveiled Agentic POBO, a new payments product that lets fintechs and trade companies send international transfers on behalf of customers without opening virtual accounts for each one. The launch targets a long-standing cross-border friction point: banks, compliance checks and slow settlement that can delay supplier payments for days.

Why it matters: - Cross-border commerce often stalls when the payer’s name does not match the invoice or when banks demand documents the sender does not have. - Kira is targeting that bottleneck with a new product built for AI agents, not just human operators. - The company says the launch can help fintechs and commercial firms pay suppliers abroad faster without creating a virtual account for every customer.

What happened: - Kira launched Agentic POBO, short for Payments on Behalf Of, on October 19, 2026. - The product lets a fintech or commercial company pay an overseas supplier on behalf of its customer. - The payment can be made without opening a virtual account for the end customer or repeating KYC verification. - Kira describes the offering as the first product in its “banking for agents” model. - The company says this is the first solution of its kind in the Americas.

The details: - Agentic POBO uses AI-agent rules, permissions and authentication so agents can execute financial operations within limits set by people. - The system checks whether the payer name matches the invoice. - The agent gathers the documentation the receiving bank is likely to ask for. - The agent flags missing information in seconds and selects the banking route. - Kira’s compliance team reviews and approves each transaction. - Every payment must be backed by an invoice. - The transfer settles over SWIFT the same day, instead of the usual 72 hours. - The MT103 payment confirmation arrives the next business day, instead of taking around three days. - The service is aimed at commercial firms, trade companies, fintechs serving importers, intercompany payments and recurring supplier payments. - Kira points to importers that buy from China as a key use case. - A typical alternative, opening a virtual account per customer, can take about a week.

Between the lines: - The product addresses a structural gap in banking infrastructure that was built for traditional account holders, not AI agents. - Kira is betting that compliance automation will make third-party payments more usable for smaller importers that banks often underserve. - José Alberto Díaz, COO of Kira, said most fintechs cannot offer this service because banks reject the payment or require a separate account for each customer. - Nicolle Hazard, Head of Product at Kira, said the company is building financial services for a new generation of AI agents with people setting the rules. - The company also framed trust and compliance as the main barrier to agentic finance, not the speed of the software itself.

What's next: - Kira says the product is designed for firms that move money across borders regularly, including trade companies and travel agencies. - The company is positioning Agentic POBO as the first step in a broader agent-based banking stack. - Kira will likely keep pushing the model with more AI-driven payment workflows as the agent economy develops.

The bottom line: - Kira is trying to turn one of cross-border trade’s most fragile workflows into a faster, compliance-managed product built for AI agents and their human supervisors. - In the first half of 2026, Kira says it processed more than $1 trillion in payments and served clients across the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, including Spin by OXXO. More information