Visa, BILL and Billtrust have launched a live pilot that enables AI agents to complete approved business invoice payments through supplier portals without manual intervention.
The pilot aims to automate a step in B2B payments that often requires finance teams to log into supplier portals and manually enter payment details, even after an invoice has been approved.
Announced in Las Vegas on 20 October, the initiative is described by the companies as the first live pilot of its kind. It uses capabilities from Visa Intelligent Commerce, Visa’s portfolio for AI-initiated payments.
Human authentication requirements on supplier portals have previously limited how much of the payment process businesses could automate.
How the Visa pilot works
BILL’s Payment Agent starts the process using Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol and Agentic Directory. The protocol allows websites to verify the identity of authorised AI agents.
The agent then uses tokenised payment credentials to initiate card payments on behalf of BILL’s customers. These credentials replace sensitive card details with digital tokens.
Payment controls ensure that each transaction follows the buyer’s approved instructions.
Billtrust then uses Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol to recognise and authenticate the agent before granting it access to the supplier’s payment portal.
According to the companies, this authentication can satisfy protections traditionally provided by CAPTCHA and other bot-blocking tools without requiring a separate agent login.
The process also removes the need to share supplier-portal login credentials.
Buyers and suppliers can track the authorisation and completion of each payment, which follows the buyer’s approved instructions and relates to a specific invoice.
AI agents do not independently decide which invoices to pay. They only execute eligible payments that buyers have already approved.
“Businesses should not have to choose between automation and control when making payments,”
said Mark Nelsen, SVP and Head of Product, Commercial & Money Movement Solutions, Visa.
“This pilot applies agentic commerce to a real B2B-payment problem, by having trusted agents complete payments across platforms,”
he added.
What it means for buyers and suppliers
For businesses using BILL, the pilot could reduce the time finance teams spend manually entering payment details into supplier portals. BILL says nearly 500,000 businesses rely on its platform to manage their finances.
Suppliers using Billtrust can recognise and accept payments initiated by authenticated AI agents while maintaining their existing payment acceptance policies.
They also retain the information needed to process and reconcile transactions. The companies say this approach could help suppliers receive payments faster and improve cash flow.
“For too long, supplier portals have been friction points, requiring a person to manually complete what should be an automated step,”
said Archana Prasad, SVP of Payments and Financial Services at BILL.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by mrsiraphol via Magnific
