DBS is First Bank in Asia Pacific to Pilot Visa Intelligent Commerce for Everyday Payments

WHY THIS MATTERS: The announcement by DBS and Visa elevates the payments discussion surrounding artificial intelligence from internal efficiency gains to the front lines of consumer transaction power. While consumer adoption of generative AI is already rampant, the pivotal challenge facing the digital payments ecosystem is not capability, but trust. This pilot, making DBS the first issuer in Asia Pacific to validate AI-initiated payment flows, is a foundational step in addressing that challenge. It represents the crucial shift toward autonomous commerce, where AI moves beyond recommendations to executing real-world purchases on a consumer’s behalf. By building out the Visa Intelligent Commerce framework with robust controls like the Trusted Agent Protocol, the partners are not just facilitating transactions; they are defining the regulatory and security standards necessary for scaling this functionality across high-value sectors like travel and e-commerce. This development warrants immediate attention because the success of these trials will blueprint the secure, consent-driven foundation upon which the next generation of financial services will be built.

DBS Bank, Southeast Asia’s largest bank and Visa, a global leader in digital payments today announced their ongoing collaboration to drive the future of agent-initiated payments via a joint pilot under Visa Intelligent Commerce (VIC). VIC brings together a comprehensive suite of integrated APIs and a partner programme, utilising Visa’s secure infrastructure to enable safe, transparent and consent-driven payments by AI agents, on behalf of consumers.

Through this collaboration with Visa, DBS is the first issuer in Asia Pacific to advance real-world agentic commerce use cases, marking 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.

A Visa commissioned study showed that generative AI chatbots have quickly become mainstream among Singapore consumers, with usage reaching exceptionally high levels. Close to 77% of Singapore residents are already using generative AI tools such as chatbots in their daily lives, signalling rapid adoption across age groups. This momentum is also reflected in online shopping behaviours — with eight in 10 Singapore consumers now relying on AI assistance when shopping online. These insights highlight how deeply integrated AI has become in the digital habits of Singaporeans today.

Building on this momentum, DBS and Visa successfully demonstrated through a series of real-world food and beverage transactions that AI-powered agents can complete everyday tasks on behalf of customers using DBS/POSB credit and debit cards via secure, issuer-controlled flows. The collaboration will now enable DBS and Visa to explore a wider range of agentic commerce transactions, such as online shopping, travel bookings and more. These trials aim to make digital transactions more seamless for consumers, reduce manual steps and streamline payment processes – all while maintaining rigorous controls.

“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. By building these capabilities across our regional footprint, we are shaping the next generation of cards and payments, setting new standards for intelligent, trusted and seamless commerce.”

“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 at 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.”

As the collaboration progresses, DBS is strengthening its readiness for agent-led commerce by validating AI‑ready credentials[1], advanced authentication and intent‑driven transaction controls. With Visa Intelligent Commerce, the collaboration is shaping a framework where trust, accountability and customer choice are built into every transaction. This approach positions DBS and Visa to help define how agentic commerce can scale responsibly across the region, balancing innovation with resilience, as well as convenience with confidence.

FF NEWS TAKE: This collaboration is unequivocally a needle-mover, providing the first tangible evidence that major institutions are ready to deploy agentic commerce at the issuer level in APAC. The real battleground for adoption will be security and control. We must closely monitor the efficacy of the intent-driven transaction controls and advanced authentication measures as the pilot expands beyond small-scale F&B to complex, higher-value use cases like travel. Only when the industry proves its capacity to prevent financial leakage and manage AI’s transactional autonomy responsibly will widespread merchant and consumer ecosystem readiness be achieved.