SKN | Santander Tests Agentic AI Payments in Latin America With Visa

Key Takeaways:

• Banco Santander conducted pilot AI-powered payment transactions across several Latin American markets.

• The pilot was carried out in partnership with Visa using the Visa Intelligent Commerce platform.

• The initiative tested AI agents completing purchases while maintaining secure consumer consent and payment authentication.

Santander Pilots AI-Driven Commerce in Latin America

Banco Santander has successfully completed controlled pilot transactions using agentic artificial intelligence to initiate and complete payments across multiple Latin American markets.

The pilot was conducted in partnership with Visa and demonstrated how AI-powered digital agents could securely perform consumer purchases under defined consent and security frameworks.

During the test, AI agents executed transactions including book purchases in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay, while a transaction in Brazil involved the purchase of chocolates. These transactions were processed through Santander’s regulated payment network combined with Visa’s AI commerce infrastructure.

Visa Intelligent Commerce Platform Enables AI Transactions

The experiment relied on Visa Intelligent Commerce, a platform launched by Visa in April 2025 that allows AI agents to search for products, recommend purchases, and execute transactions on behalf of consumers.

The pilot verified several critical aspects of AI-assisted commerce, including user consent mechanisms, secure handling of financial data, and interoperability across payment networks and merchant platforms.

According to the partners, the successful tests demonstrate that AI-driven purchasing can function within existing financial systems while maintaining consumer protections and issuer oversight.

Expanding the Concept of Agentic Commerce

Executives involved in the project described the initiative as an early step toward practical AI-assisted shopping.

Matías Sánchez said the tests showed how AI technologies could act as secure intermediaries between consumers and merchants while preserving strong security and regulatory controls.

The experiment also demonstrated the ability to run AI payment transactions across multiple countries, suggesting potential scalability for cross-border digital commerce in the future.

Part of Santander’s Broader AI Strategy

The Latin American pilot follows a similar experiment conducted earlier in Europe, where Santander tested AI-driven transactions using Mastercard Agent Pay.

The bank has been expanding its artificial intelligence initiatives under the leadership of Ricardo Martín Manjón. As part of this broader strategy, Santander has also partnered with OpenAI to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise tools to as many as 30,000 employees across the organization.

These initiatives highlight the bank’s efforts to integrate artificial intelligence across payments, operations, and customer-facing services.

Outlook

Agentic commerce remains an emerging concept in the financial technology ecosystem. However, successful pilot programs such as Santander’s suggest that AI-powered purchasing systems could eventually become part of mainstream digital commerce.

Financial institutions and payment networks are likely to continue exploring such technologies to improve transaction automation, customer convenience, and cross-border payment capabilities while maintaining strong security standards.

For confidential inquiries, partnership opportunities, or further insights regarding artificial intelligence in banking, digital payments innovation, and financial technology investment trends, interested parties are invited to reach out to our team directly for professional engagement.