Visa pilots AI-powered payment framework with banks and FinTechs

By Parth Prabhudesai

Visa has launched its “Agentic Ready” programme in Singapore, bringing together 13 issuing partners across banks and FinTechs to prepare the payments ecosystem for the rise of AI-driven commerce.

The initiative is designed to enable “agentic commerce,” where AI agents can discover, decide, and complete transactions on behalf of consumers. In its first phase, the programme focuses on issuer readiness, allowing participating institutions to test and validate agent-initiated payments in a secure, controlled environment.

Participating partners include major financial institutions such as Bank of China Singapore, DBS Bank, HSBC Singapore, OCBC, Standard Chartered, UOB, and FinTech players like StraitsX and UQPay. Visa said more partners are expected to join as the programme expands.

The solution is powered by Visa’s trust infrastructure, including tokenisation, identity verification, and risk controls, ensuring that consumer protection remains central as automation increases in payments.

“Singapore is an innovation hub where ideas move quickly from concept to real-world impact, making it the ideal market to progress agentic commerce,” said Adeline Kim, Country Manager for Singapore & Brunei at Visa. She added that strong consumer readiness is already evident, with a Visa-commissioned study showing that nearly 77% of residents use generative AI tools and eight in ten rely on AI assistance when shopping online.

Industry participants highlighted the importance of secure testing environments. “This initiative enables us to evaluate agent-initiated payments within a secure and controlled environment,” said Sonny Tan of Bank of China Singapore, while DBS Bank noted that the programme would help drive “secure and widespread adoption of AI-driven commerce.”

The launch builds on Visa’s broader Intelligent Commerce strategy, which aims to enable trusted, scalable AI-powered payment experiences. As digital commerce evolves, the programme reflects a growing industry focus on integrating artificial intelligence into payments while maintaining security, transparency, and user control.