Banco Santander and Visa have completed Latin America's first controlled pilot of AI agent-initiated transactions across five markets.
The pilot, conducted in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay, was powered by Visa Intelligent Commerce (VIC), a suite of integrated technology capabilities built on Visa's existing secure infrastructure. The transactions were completed within the two companies' regulated payment framework and in line with existing supervisory standards. AI agents successfully purchased books in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay, while in Brazil the transaction involved the purchase of chocolates, providing cross-market execution evidence across different merchant categories.
How Visa Intelligent Commerce underpins the framework
Visa Intelligent Commerce is designed to enable AI agents to initiate transactions on behalf of consumers through a structure that incorporates consent capture, secure data handling, and interoperability across merchants and payment networks. The system is intended to allow consumers to delegate shopping tasks to AI agents while maintaining issuer controls and compliance with security standards.
The pilot validated several elements of the consumer journey within this framework, including the ability of AI agents to operate across different markets and merchant environments without compromising data integrity or bypassing consumer authorisation requirements.
According to research published by Visa alongside the announcement, over 70% of Latin American consumers have already integrated AI tools into their shopping behaviour. The companies position agentic commerce as a near-term development expected to gain traction through 2026.
Strategic positioning and regional implications
The collaboration between Banco Santander and Visa reflects a broader industry effort to define the technical and governance standards that will underpin AI-driven commerce at scale. By conducting the pilot across multiple markets simultaneously, the two companies have sought to demonstrate that the model is not limited to a single regulatory or merchant environment.
For issuers and payment networks operating in Latin America, the pilot raises practical questions around liability frameworks, consumer consent mechanisms, and the readiness of existing infrastructure to support autonomous transaction initiation. The involvement of a major regional bank such as Banco Santander alongside Visa's network infrastructure signals that the transition from pilot to broader deployment may move quickly if regulatory conditions allow.
