Kira launches Agentic POBO for third-party international payments through AI agents

Kira, an AI-agents platform for international payments, has launched Agentic POBO, a Payments on Behalf Of product that lets a fintech or trading company pay an overseas supplier on behalf of its customer without opening a virtual account or repeating KYB (Know Your Business) checks. For high-risk PSPs, the point is not the AI gloss; it is that Kira is trying to package third-party cross-border payments into a controlled workflow banks may actually tolerate.

1. Kira describes Agentic POBO as the first product in what it calls “banking for agents”: rules, permissions, and authentication that let AI agents execute financial operations within limits set by people. The company says this is the first solution of its kind in the continent.
2. The use case is a familiar headache in cross-border trade. Banks reject transfers when the payer’s name does not match the invoice, or when the supplier’s bank asks for documents the sender does not have. Many importers are SMEs buying through fintechs or trading companies, a profile traditional banking tends to avoid. The usual workaround, opening a virtual account for each customer, can take a week.
3. Kira also points to the MT103, the bank receipt that confirms an international transfer and that suppliers in China often require before releasing goods. According to the company, this document currently takes around three days to arrive.
4. Under Agentic POBO, an AI agent checks that the payer name matches the invoice, gathers the documentation the receiving bank will ask for, flags missing items in seconds, and selects the banking route. Kira’s compliance team reviews and approves each transaction, and every payment must be backed by an invoice. Settlement runs over SWIFT on the same day, versus the usual 72, and the MT103 arrives the next business day.
5. José Alberto Díaz, COO of Kira, said the product exists because most fintechs cannot offer supplier payments on behalf of clients: banks reject the payment or require a separate account for each customer. He added that Kira’s AI agents prepare compliance documentation and choose the best banking rail in seconds, while the company’s team gives final approval.

Kira says the service is aimed at trading companies and foreign trade businesses, fintechs serving importers, intra-group payments, and recurring supplier payments, including those used by travel agencies. In practice, that means a workflow designed for the parts of cross-border commerce where the bank relationship is often the real bottleneck.