Visa and Lianlian complete first live B2B agentic payment in Greater China

Visa and Lianlian DigiTech announced on July 24 that they had completed the first live business-to-business agentic transaction in Greater China, using LoopXPay, Lianlian’s artificial intelligence agent, according to a joint statement. In the transaction, the agent sourced a product sample from a supplier and completed the purchase within a single workflow.

The agent identified the purchasing requirement, recommended suitable suppliers, compared options, placed the order and executed the payment, operating within pre-defined spending controls and approval parameters, the companies said. LoopXPay has been registered in Visa’s Agentic Directory, a registry that lets participating businesses and merchants identify verified AI agents within the network.

“AI is reshaping the entire commercial value chain, where a growing number of business activities will be autonomously executed by AI agents, with payments serving as the critical infrastructure connecting them to global commerce,” said Zhang Zhengyu, founder, chairman and chief executive of Lianlian DigiTech.

Darren Parslow, global head of Visa Commercial Solutions, said the collaboration aims to advance the trusted foundations businesses will need for agent-driven commerce. The companies said small and medium-sized businesses, which often lack dedicated procurement teams, stand to benefit most from delegating sourcing and payment tasks to an agent while keeping oversight of spending decisions.

Building on the transaction, Visa and Lianlian said they will apply the AI agents to procurement, digital advertising optimisation and B2B platform payments. Founded in 2009, Lianlian DigiTech holds 68 payment licenses and related qualifications and supports settlement in more than 140 currencies across more than 200 countries and regions, according to CFOtech Asia.