Visa and more than thirty European card issuers have launched live transactions in which AI software agents can make purchases on behalf of cardholders, the company said. The announcement was made at the Visa Payments Forum in Paris.
How the solution works
The system allows AI agents, operating within limits and parameters set by customers, to browse partner merchants’ websites, select products and initiate payments. Crucially, each purchase requires the cardholder’s explicit approval; agents may only initiate transactions within the predefined boundaries.
The first live purchases took place in travel, retail and e‑commerce, and were processed with independent merchants — an advance compared with earlier closed test environments.
Merchant and technical integrations
Visa uses the Trusted Agent Protocol (TAP) and an Agent Directory to authenticate and identify AI agents for merchants. These solutions provide a standard way to distinguish verified, trusted AI traffic from unverified bots, allowing online stores to control how software accesses their platforms.
The technology can be integrated into existing risk-management systems without building entirely new infrastructure, and wider adoption is supported by providers such as Cloudflare and Akamai.
Security and regulatory compliance
Transaction security is provided by Visa Payment Passkeys, which comply with Europe’s mandatory Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements. The system identifies both the cardholder and the AI agent acting on their behalf, tying each payment directly to an authenticated user.
Partners and examples
Alongside more than thirty card issuers, commercial partners in the project include lastminute.com, Frasers, Cleverbridge and BrickDepot. Visa says the initial live transactions demonstrated practical use cases for the technology in everyday consumer scenarios.
Next steps: B2B extension
Following the successful European pilot, Visa plans to extend the technology beyond consumer use to business‑to‑business (B2B) payments. This will allow AI agents to automate transactions in corporate procurement processes, subject to the necessary approvals and compliance controls.
Why this matters
These live tests represent a notable step toward practical deployment of automated payments: by combining authentication protocols, merchant identification mechanisms and compatibility with existing risk systems, Visa and its partners have shown that AI‑agent initiated payments can meet Europe’s security and regulatory standards.
Tags: cybersecurity, transaction, artificial intelligence, e‑commerce, online shopping, Visa, payment system, B2B, card payments, AI agent
