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| Source: Visa. Ramachandran speaking at the Visa Media Showcase 2025, where Visa announced new innovation and partnerships in Asia Pacific. |
Visa is advancing its infrastructure, standards, and capabilities to power AI-driven commerce, opening new opportunities for consumers across Asia Pacific. Soon, AI agents integrated into familiar platforms will be able to transact using Visa’s 4.8 billion credentials at millions of merchant locations worldwide, the company said.
Jack Forestell, Visa’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer said: “Combining the strength of our global network with our leadership in payment innovation here in Asia Pacific, we are bringing new products and solutions that will transform commerce and deliver trust and security to AI-enabled payments across the region.”
According to Visa, AI-enabled digital commerce will significantly change the way consumers across the region discover and purchase products and services. In the near future, AI agents will browse, select, purchase, and manage transactions on behalf of users, making trust in payments more important than ever. Visa’s new AI-enabled solutions offer regional partners including AI platforms, fintechs, banks, and merchants a seamless way to connect to the Visa network to deliver secure, frictionless payment experiences, the company said.
The new Visa Intelligent Commerce initiative aligns with Visa's vision, opening Visa’s payments network to developers and engineers building the first generation of AI-powered commerce in Asia Pacific. Visa Intelligent Commerce brings a suite of integrated application programming interfaces (APIs) and a commercial partner programme to AI platforms, enabling developers to deploy Visa’s AI commerce capabilities securely and at scale.
Visa also announced that it is in explorations with several digital leaders to grow AI commerce by enabling a secure and seamless checkout experience. Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation, and financial technology provider, while Grab is Southeast Asia’s super app offering ride-hailing, food delivery, digital payments, and financial services across eight markets. Tencent is a multinational technology leader that develops a wide range of digital products and services, including Weixin/WeChat, China’s super app.
TR Ramachandran, Head of Products and Solutions, Asia Pacific, Visa said: “As global commerce continues to evolve rapidly, Visa remains at the forefront of delivering innovations that will enable the future of commerce across Asia Pacific.
“We believe AI agents will play a growing role in commerce, from handling routine purchases such as ordering food, to more complex purchases such as securing event tickets or making travel reservations. By combining AI capabilities with Visa’s trusted payment infrastructure, we are enabling a seamless, secure, and more enjoyable experience for consumers, merchants, and businesses alike.”
New Visa products and capabilities for Asia Pacific are designed to support the evolving payment needs of consumers and businesses across the region:
Cryptocurrency
Visa has been facilitating cryptocurrency transactions for over five years and is now expanding its offering to include stablecoin-backed cards, settlement, and programmable money. On and off-ramps via stablecoin-backed cards allow consumers to use their Visa credentials to buy stablecoins with fiat currency and pay with stablecoins across Visa-accepting merchant locations. In Asia Pacific, Visa is partnering with DCS Singapore, DTC Pay and StraitsX on stablecoin-backed cards that support conversion through regulated infrastructure.
Enabling seven-day-a-week settlement for stablecoins: Visa has settled more than US$225 million to date in stablecoin volume that has been settled through Visa across participating clients. In Asia Pacific, Visa is working with StraitsX for stablecoin settlement.
Through the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), Visa provides a platform for its partners to issue and manage fiat-backed tokens, offering interconnectivity to public and private Blockchains, enabling programmable financing, trading of tokenised assets and facilitating cross-border money movement. Visa is looking to expand the availability of VTAP to more partners later this year and into 2026.
Flexibility
Visa’s Flex Credential, a next-generation card that allows users to toggle between debit, credit, and reward points, continues to gain traction in Asia Pacific. Visa first launched Flex in partnership with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company (SMCC), known as Olive, two years ago in Japan. Today, more than 5 million Olive account holders are benefitting from the Visa Flex Credential. The Olive card continues to outperform, with cardholder transactions averaging 40% higher than the national average in Japan over the past year.
Visa and SMCC have expanded the Visa Flex Credential to support small businesses with the flexibility to switch between business and personal accounts using the same Olive card, enhancing access to credit and cash flow management. Visa is also collaborating with local banks in Vietnam to launch Flex Credential in the next few months.
Visa is launching new services and partnerships to make it easier for consumers, merchants, and businesses in Asia Pacific to pay and get paid.
More payment methods
The Visa Pay service is designed to connect any participating wallet to any Visa-accepting merchant, local or international, in-store or online, launches across Asia Pacific, home to the largest number of digital wallet users. Through partnerships with leading players including LINE Pay in Taiwan, Maya in the Philippines, OpenRice in Hong Kong, and Woori Card in South Korea, Visa is expanding access to its global network, giving consumers more ways to pay globally by tapping, scanning or online.
Digital Identity
This suite of solutions includes Passkeys, Tap to Confirm, and enhanced data which are meant to identify and authenticate digital users. These solutions will reduce friction for consumers by being digitally native while improving payment security and authorisation rates with enhanced transaction data and state-of-the-art fraud prevention techniques. New partners in the region include Coles, a supermarket chain in Australia, and Maybank, a financial services provider in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Payment for micro-sellers
Visa Accept allows micro-sellers to receive payments directly to their eligible Visa debit card using any NFC-enabled smartphone. Launching in Vietnam, the service supports micro-entrepreneurs and informal sellers such as street vendors, freelancers, and rural service providers. Participating issuers will enable cardholders to accept contactless payments through their bank’s mobile app.
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