Visa rolls out intelligent commerce to power AI-driven payments

Visa has expanded Visa Intelligent Commerce across the Asia Pacific to bring the evolution of agent-based commerce, an emerging model in which AI-powered agents shop and pay on behalf of consumers. The development strengthens the region’s digital commerce landscape with advanced security frameworks and upcoming pilot initiatives designed to build on Visa’s earlier collaborations.

Visa Intelligent Commerce is an integrated suite of APIs and partner capabilities built on Visa’s global infrastructure, designed to enable safe, transparent and consent-driven transactions executed by AI agents. The platform incorporates tokenisation, authentication, structured payment instructions and transaction signals, allowing AI systems to operate with clarity, security and verifiable intent. Together, these capabilities form the foundation for a new era of automated consumer engagement, as more individuals begin to utilise AI technologies to discover products, make informed decisions, and complete online purchases.

The acceleration of AI activity across digital retail underscores the scale of the shift underway. Over the past year, AI-generated website traffic has risen by more than 4,700%, while 85% of shoppers who use AI for online purchasing report an improved experience. Against this backdrop, Visa is enhancing the standards and infrastructure required to support intelligent, scalable and secure AI-driven commerce across the region. As AI becomes embedded within mainstream applications, Visa’s network of 4.8 billion credentials will enable these agents to transact across millions of merchants worldwide. Consumers may soon instruct an AI assistant to book travel or purchase tickets, with the full payment journey executed seamlessly and securely through Visa’s systems.

Central to this evolution is Trusted Agent Protocol, a foundational component of Visa Intelligent Commerce designed to give merchants confidence as AI-initiated transactions increase. The framework uses agent-specific cryptographic signatures to allow merchants to identify trusted AI agents with genuine transactional intent and to distinguish them from malicious bots. It also maintains visibility of the consumer behind the agent, ensuring that relationships between merchants and their customers remain intact. Built as an open, low-code solution, Trusted Agent Protocol enables merchants to integrate easily without overhauling existing systems, supporting a smoother transition toward AI-enabled commerce. With its verified credentials, transparency and secure authorisation, the protocol establishes a consistent standard that allows merchants to treat AI-driven purchases with the same confidence as traditional transactions.

T.R. Ramachandran, Head of Products and Solutions, Asia Pacific, Visa, said, “Agentic commerce is transforming the very fabric of online payment transactions, requiring a unified ecosystem to unlock its full potential. With Visa Intelligent Commerce and its cornerstone, Trusted Agent Protocol, Visa is connecting consumers, AI agents and merchants through secure, scalable solutions. This ensures every interaction is verified and transparent, empowering all parties of the purchase to embrace this future with confidence.”