Visa and Tencent Sign MoU to Expand Cross-Border Payments and AI Commerce

Tencent and Visa have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore opportunities in cross-border payments, AI-driven commerce, enterprise artificial intelligence, and international expansion.

The agreement brings together Tencent's payment platforms and digital services with Visa's worldwide payment infrastructure and money movement capabilities.

This MoU arrives after Visa secured regulatory clearance to begin establishing a domestic bankcard clearing institution in China.

The companies intend to build on their current efforts serving international visitors coming to China.

They will investigate methods to streamline payment acceptance for both inbound and outbound travellers using TenPay Global, Tencent's cross-border platform, alongside Visa Pay.

For individuals travelling to and from China, the partnership will explore payment solutions at participating merchants on the Weixin Pay and Visa networks.

The two companies plan to extend their cross-border remittance collaboration through Visa Direct.

This initiative would enable additional overseas senders to transfer money directly into the Weixin Pay ecosystem.

All work will comply with applicable regulatory, data governance, and security requirements.

Visa and Tencent will explore how AI and agentic technologies can enhance digital commerce, prioritising payment security, consumer control, and trust.

The proposed partnership expands beyond gaming — where Tencent's international payments platform Midas and Visa have previously collaborated — to include Tencent's overseas AI businesses.

The companies will evaluate how Visa Intelligent Commerce could facilitate transactions initiated with AI agent assistance, covering use cases such as:

• Product discovery, selection, and purchases for eligible users
• Developer-agent payment experiences
• AI-native commerce models

Dowson Tong, Tencent's senior executive vice president and CEO of its Cloud and Smart Industries Group, commented on the collaboration:

Our expanded partnership with Visa builds on our ongoing efforts to better serve users and businesses across Tencent's ecosystem. By making cross-border payments more convenient and exploring how Tencent Cloud's AI and agent capabilities can complement Visa's global network and expertise, we hope to create more seamless commerce experiences for consumers and new opportunities for businesses, both in China and internationally.