Visa, BILL and Billtrust run live pilot of AI agents paying supplier invoices
For the head of treasury management at a regional bank
Visa said in a news release provided to PYMNTS on Tuesday (Oct. 20) that it has launched a live pilot with BILL and Billtrust in which AI agents initiate and complete approved buyer invoice payments through supplier portals.2
Visa said many payment portals have relied on human authentication requirements that limited how approved payments could be automated.23 Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol lets the agents be authenticated to credentialed portals, so payments that relied on manual entry can be carried out by trusted AI agents, Visa said.23
According to the release, the flow starts when the BILL Payment Agent, registered using Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol and Agentic Directory, uses tokenized payment credentials and controls aligned with the buyer's approved payment instructions to issue payments for BILL's customers.23
Visa said this lets BILL automate card payments for supplier invoices, backed by the Visa Intelligent Commerce portfolio.2
When the payment is initiated, Billtrust uses Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol to recognize, authenticate and permit access to the agent, which lets BILL complete the payment on the customer's behalf.23
Finextra reported that the pilot is live and processing end-to-end transactions with participating buyers using BILL and Billtrust suppliers; the sources do not say how many buyers or suppliers take part, or what payment volumes are involved.3
The sources do not name a bank in this flow, so issuers and banks serving SMB payables customers cannot tell from them who holds the funds, who handles disputes or who owns agent controls. Banks with B2B card or payables products should watch which party defines the payment limits and which verifies the agent, because early pilot rules may become what corporate customers expect.
Our take. In this pilot, BILL sets the controls and Billtrust checks the agent. Your bank appears only as the credential behind the token. When an agent pays the wrong invoice, the client will still call you.
Action. Treasury management: Define authentication, per-invoice limits and liability terms for agent-initiated supplier payments on commercial tokenized credentials.
What our records say
Visa's AI posture is network-as-infrastructure for AI agents: Visa uses AI to defend the network and sells AI fraud tools to banks, while opening its credentials, tokens and rails to agent builders through Visa Intelligent Commerce.1 Agentic commerce: Visa Intelligent Commerce is recorded with status Pilot.2 Intelligent Commerce Connect was unveiled on Apr 8, 2026 and is in pilot with partners including AWS and Highnote.3
From our records
- Visafintech · company Card network, founded 1958, United States · bank partners Barclays US, DBS, BBVA
- Commerce Bancsharesbank · latest Nolan & Associates acquisition completed (Oct 2026)
Sources
- ReportVisa Tests AI Agents for Supplier Payments - PaymentsJournal Paymentsjournal
- Also reported byVisa Launches Agentic Payments Pilot With BILL and Billtrust PYMNTS
- Also reported byVisa pilots AI agent payments between buyer and supplier platforms Finextra