Banco Santander and Visa complete groundbreaking Agentic commerce pilot across Latin America

Banco Santander and Visa have announced the successful completion of Banco Santander’s first controlled pilot of agentic commerce transactions across five Latin American markets, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay, powered by Visa Intelligent Commerce (VIC). This milestone shows a breakthrough in how consumers can securely delegate shopping tasks to trusted AI agents.

Matías Sánchez, global head of Cards and Digital Solutions at Banco Santander, said, “This is a major step toward making AI-assisted shopping a practical reality. By testing real transactions, we demonstrated how these technologies act as enablers of secure, interoperable agentic commerce that maintains strong consumer protections and issuer controls.”

Visa Intelligent Commerce enabling secure AI-driven transactions

Visa Intelligent Commerce provides integrated technology that utilises Visa’s secure infrastructure to facilitate safe and transparent transactions driven by AI agents on behalf of consumers.

The platform follows strict compliance and security standards, ensuring robust consumer protections.

Through this collaboration, Banco Santander and Visa are advancing practical agentic commerce use cases and establishing a framework to support responsible and scalable adoption across the Latin American region.

“The pilot with Santander marks a defining moment for commerce in Latin America. Through Visa Intelligent Commerce, we’re laying the foundation for AI-driven transactions that are secure, seamless and built for scale — ensuring every player in the ecosystem is ready for what comes next,” said Catalina Tobar, head of Growth Products and Partnerships for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean.

During the pilot, AI agents successfully completed book purchases in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay. In Brazil, the transaction involved the purchase of chocolates. These transactions provide tangible proof points of cross-market execution and interoperability.

From concept to reality

The pilot validated key elements of the consumer journey, including consent capture, secure data handling, and interoperability across merchants and payment networks. It was conducted within Visa and Banco Santander’s regulated payment framework and adhered to existing parameters and supervisory standards.

New research from Visa indicates that over 70% of Latin American consumers have already integrated AI into their shopping journeys. 

As consumer behaviour evolves, agentic commerce is likely to become a mainstream reality in 2026, reshaping how people discover, verify, and purchase goods.