Trulioo Says the Next Evolution of KYC Is KYA

Watch more: What’s Next in Payments: Trulioo, Zac Cohen

Commerce is changing fast, and verification has never mattered more for payments companies.

As October unfolds, surprises abound and may touch on everything from new regulations, emerging technologies and, increasingly, the rise of agentic commerce.

For Trulioo Chief Product Officer Zac Cohen, the focus is on building a trust infrastructure ready for the next generation of digital transactions.

“As this new mode of commerce and this new mode of digital interactions start to happen more frequently, and it’s catching fire very quickly, we believe that we have a fundamental place in that world to also bring trust to agentic verifications and agentic transactions,” Cohen told PYMNTS.

The conversation took place as the latest installment of the What’s Next in Payments “October Surprise” series. In agentic commerce, artificial intelligence agents, not just human users, initiate and manage transactions. That evolution introduces fresh questions about identity, authority and liability.

“Wouldn’t it be a massive surprise this October if out of the blue we could get this question of liability solved in agentic commerce?” Cohen said. “That’s the big sticking point for a lot of these transactions to really take off. When there are natural things that happen in the transaction environment, such as an error or a mis-purchase or a chargeback or a refund, how do we ensure that the liability is squarely sitting where it sits today?”

Solving that question would mark a pivotal moment in digital payments, one that redefines trust and responsibility, he said.

Cohen said agentic verification, or know your agent (KYA), extends the familiar compliance standards of know your customer (KYC) and know your business (KYB).

“We want to understand who the agents are,” he said. “We want to make sure that they carry the instructions and the prompts of the individual specifically of how they should be. We want those relationships to be accessible between the merchant, the payment network, the agent, the developer, the consumer, etc.”

That fabric of relationships ensures continuity in a world where automated systems act on behalf of people or businesses, he said. The goal is to build the same level of traceability and accountability that underpins current digital payments infrastructure, extended to a more autonomous environment.

As new forms of digital interaction take shape, regulation is shifting too.

“For example, in Europe, there’s a new payee verification regulation,” Cohen said. “So, all of the banks are meant to provide access to be able to verify a user, a consumer’s name, and the bank account number, as well as commercial accounts.”

In the United States, “the Corporate Transparency Act continues to sort of get ping-ponged around the legal structure, but we see specific states like Delaware, California, New York actually driving forward with [ultimate beneficial owner (UBO)] databases that are really important for creating trust in payment infrastructure and payment transactions,” he said.

These developments create stronger trust signals for safety and compliance while increasing transparency for financial institutions and payment platforms, he said.

Trulioo’s work sits at the intersection of these changes.

“What we do is we build trust infrastructure for KYC, KYB and of late KYA,” Cohen said. “We do these kinds of processes for onboarding in every country around the world for payments organizations.”

The company’s fastest-growing line is its business verification product, he said. Regulatory transparency requirements have changed how risk and compliance teams operate.

When asked how Trulioo prepares for unexpected changes—the proverbial October surprise—Cohen said readiness depends on deep customer engagement and long-term thinking.

“We talk to our customers a lot,” he said. “But where we really have to be thinking about is what’s going to happen 12, 24, even 36 months out.”

That approach demands agility in model building.

“We have these additional data points that are becoming more and more important and available,” Cohen said.

Maintaining flexibility will help payment organizations adapt quickly to new requirements or risk signals without slowing transaction flows, he said.

As agentic verification matures, Cohen said it is becoming the bridge between automation and accountability, the connective layer ensuring that as transactions speed up, trust keeps pace.

Cohen told PYMNTS that 2026 will bring rapid expansion in AI-driven automation and decisioning.

“What is happening with AI and AI agents in these kinds of organizations is just incredible,” he said. “Everything from a payment approval, a payout, a card issuer, a merchant onboarding for a payment company, all of those kinds of pieces are really going to see new and innovative tools in the next year.”

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