Visa and Lianlian DigiTech have completed the first live business-to-business agentic transaction in Greater China, with an AI agent independently sourcing a product sample, comparing suppliers, placing the order and executing payment in a single workflow — without a human clicking through each step.

The transaction, completed in Hangzhou, used LoopXPay, an AI agent built by Lianlian, an AI-native global financial infrastructure provider listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The agent identified a purchasing requirement, recommended suitable suppliers, compared options, placed the order and securely executed payment, all while operating within pre-defined spending controls and approval parameters.

Agentic commerce targets SMB procurement gap

Small and medium-sized businesses often lack dedicated procurement teams and spend valuable time sourcing, purchasing and making payments themselves. Visa and Lianlian said the milestone shows how AI-powered commerce can help SMBs simplify these activities while retaining appropriate controls and oversight, reducing manual effort without giving up visibility into commercial decision-making.

As part of the collaboration, LoopXPay has been registered in Visa’s Agentic Directory, which lets participating businesses and merchants identify verified AI agents within the ecosystem. The directory supports Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol, intended to give greater transparency into agent-driven interactions and confidence that participating agents meet Visa’s requirements.

“AI-powered commerce experiences can help businesses simplify purchasing and payments while maintaining the controls and oversight they require. For SMBs, that means less complexity in managing day-to-day commercial activities and more time focused on growth,” said Darren Parslow, Global Head, Visa Commercial Solutions, Visa.

Building trust for the agent economy

Zhang Zhengyu, Founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Lianlian DigiTech, said AI is reshaping the commercial value chain as a growing share of business activities become autonomously executed by AI agents, with payments serving as the infrastructure connecting them to global commerce. He added that Lianlian is building AI-native financial infrastructure spanning identity verification, transaction authorisation, intelligent payment and global fund settlement for what the company calls the Agent Economy.

Building on the milestone, Visa and Lianlian said they are exploring how AI agents can support a broader range of commercial activities, including procurement, digital advertising optimisation and B2B platform payments, as businesses increasingly look to embed intelligence into purchasing and payment experiences.