Visa Expects Asia Pacific to Lead Global Shift to Intelligent Commerce and Agentic Payments

Visa is expanding beyond its role as a credit and debit card transaction network into value-added merchant services, focusing on agentic AI, stablecoins and digital assets. The shift could determine whether Visa can reduce its reliance on card-processing fees as payment methods rapidly evolve, while generating revenue from fraud prevention, data analytics and new settlement tools.

Visa executives recently said the company is advancing agentic commerce, in which AI agents can independently search, shop and make payments. It is also using AI to detect and block payment fraud such as romance scams while developing stablecoin applications. Reports did not provide investment figures, a formal launch date or projected new revenue, and Visa has yet to disclose a specific timetable.

Generative AI is reshaping how consumers discover products, compare prices and narrow their choices, with large language models increasingly serving as shopping assistants. Visa Chief Executive Ryan McInerney said that shift shows AI-assisted commerce has arrived. But allowing autonomous agents to spend on a customer’s behalf presents a tougher challenge, requiring trusted authorization and safeguards that satisfy consumers, merchants and payment networks.

McInerney said AI can already guide purchase decisions, but consumers generally have not handed agents authority to complete transactions. Shoppers still return to a merchant’s website to confirm the order and pay manually. Visa disclosed no launch date, transaction target or spending amount for broad agentic-payment adoption, underscoring that payment infrastructure, accountability and risk controls must be developed further before autonomous checkout becomes mainstream.