DBS Bank has trialled Visa’s agentic commerce suite in an Asia Pacific first.
It is the first bank in the region to trial the technology, with the pilot involving a series of real-world food and beverage transactions, demonstrating that AI-powered agents can complete everyday tasks on behalf of customers using DBS/POSB credit and debit cards via “secure, issuer-controlled flows.”
Visa Intelligent Commerce (VIC) includes integrated APIs, a partner programme, and utilises the payment giant’s infrastructure to facilitate the AI-driven transactions.
The two companies are now planning to explore a wider range of agentic commerce transactions, such as online shopping and travel bookings and more.
Through the partnership DBS, which is Southeast Asia’s largest bank, aims to advance real-world agentic commerce use cases.
Visa said the pilot marks a “significant” step in translating agentic commerce from concept to reality, as well as establishing the foundations for safe and scalable adoption across the region.
“AI agents are unlocking a new phase in digital payments, where routine transactions can be completed efficiently and reliably, helping customers save time and simplify everyday tasks,” said Ananya Sen, group head of regional consumer products, DBS Bank. “Our collaboration with Visa shows how agent-led payments can be deployed securely and safely at scale, giving customers confidence in how transactions are made in an AI environment.”
Sen went on to say that building these capabilities across the bank’s regional footprint will allow it to shape the “next generation” of cards and payments, setting new standards for “intelligent, trusted and seamless commerce.”
The move comes after a Visa commissioned study revealed that genAI chatbots have become mainstream in Singapore, with close to 77 per cent of residents in the country already using the technology in their daily lives.
The popularity of genAI is also reflected in online shopping behaviours, with eight in 10 Singapore consumers now relying on AI assistance when shopping online.
“This collaboration with DBS marks meaningful progress in advancing ecosystem readiness at a time when agentic commerce is rapidly evolving,” said T.R. Ramachandran, head of products & solutions, Asia Pacific, Visa. “Through Visa Intelligent Commerce and Trusted Agent Protocol, we’re building the foundation that will make agentic commerce safe, secure and scalable — from AI ready credentials to advanced authentication. This sets the stage for how trusted, AI powered experiences will come to life for consumers and partners across the region.”
In December last year, Visa launched the first end to end voice-enabled agentic payment system in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in partnership with real estate developer Alder.
The service, which uses Visa Intelligent Commerce, will allow customers to pay real estate service charges on the Live Aldar mobile app through an AI agent.
During the same month, the company partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enable developers and enterprises to deploy agentic AI commerce systems.
In October 2025, Visa introduced Trusted Agent Protocol, a foundational framework for agentic commerce designed to establish secure communication between merchants and AI agents during transactions.
As more AI agents browse and buy on behalf of consumers, Visa said at the time that merchants face new challenges such as managing bot detection systems that can mistakenly block legitimate agentic transactions. The Protocol aims to address this challenge by enabling approved agents to securely pass critical information to merchants.
