Tencent and Visa are expanding their partnership beyond cross-border payments to explore transactions powered by AI agents.
The companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to improve payment connectivity for travellers entering and leaving China.
They plan to develop solutions that allow travellers to pay at participating merchants across the Weixin Pay and Visa networks using Tencent’s TenPay Global platform and Visa Pay.
The companies also aim to expand their collaboration through Visa Direct so more overseas senders can transfer money into the Weixin Pay ecosystem.
Tencent and Visa will explore how Visa Intelligent Commerce could help AI agents find products, select items and complete purchases for eligible users while maintaining consumer control and security.
They will also examine payment capabilities for developer agents and other emerging AI commerce models.
The agreement builds on Visa’s existing collaboration with Tencent’s international payments platform Midas, which covers gaming payments and risk management.
The companies plan to extend this relationship to Tencent’s overseas AI businesses.
“As two-way travel and commerce between China and the rest of the world continue to grow, we are pleased to build on our existing partnership with Visa to deepen cross-border payment connectivity and explore new possibilities in AI-powered agentic payments.”
said Forest Lin, Corporate Vice President of Tencent and Head of Tencent Financial Technology.
“The next chapter of commerce will be shaped by increasingly connected digital ecosystems and new AI-powered experiences.
Our partnership with Tencent gives us an opportunity to help connect those experiences to Visa’s global network, opening more ways for consumers to pay and businesses to participate in global commerce, with trust and consumer control at the heart of how we innovate,”
said Elaine Chang, Group General Manager, Greater China, Visa.
The companies will pursue the proposed initiatives subject to applicable regulatory, data governance and security requirements.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by lifeforstock via Magnific
