Visa and Tencent will make cross-border payments easier for travelers and explore AI tools that shop and pay for you, which could matter if you visit or sell in China.
Visa and Tencent, the Chinese tech giant, have signed a partnership to make payments across borders easier and to explore AI "agents" that help people shop. Tencent announced the deal in a news release on Thursday, Oct. 29.
The agreement combines Tencent's payment tools, digital platforms and technology with Visa's network and its services for moving money across borders. It builds on an existing effort aimed at international visitors to China. That effort uses Visa Pay and TenPay Global, Tencent's cross-border payment platform. The goal is easier payments for travelers going both into and out of China.
The two companies will also explore "agentic payments." In plain terms, that means AI software that helps a shopper find something and then buy it. Visa Intelligent Commerce might support that kind of experience. The companies also plan to look at payment tools for developers building AI agents, and at new commerce models built around AI. The word to notice is "explore." These are early ideas, not finished products.
The news comes two weeks after Visa said China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, approved its "Application to Prepare." That lets Visa start setting up a domestic bankcard clearing operation in China, which is the behind-the-scenes system that settles card payments. Visa called it a critical milestone toward entering China's domestic payments market.
Research from PYMNTS and Visa on the United Arab Emirates found that 72% of surveyed UAE consumers used AI during their most recent purchase. The figure was 53% for Brazilian shoppers and 46% for U.S. consumers. PYMNTS noted that for merchants, a group that large can affect how products are shown, how customers reach checkout and what happens when software acts on their behalf.
The announcement gives no launch dates, no list of new features and no word on which countries or customers get them first. Visa's Elaine Chang said trust and consumer control will be at the heart of how the companies innovate. Travelers to China and businesses that sell to Chinese customers are the people most likely to feel the effects, but the details are still to come.
Visa and Tencent are working on easier cross-border payments and early AI shopping tools, but no dates or product details have been shared yet.
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