Visa, BILL and Billtrust announced a live pilot on October 20 allowing authorised AI agents to complete approved buyer invoice payments through supplier portals.
BILL’s Payment Agent uses tokenised payment credentials and controls aligned with the buyer’s approved instructions. It is registered through Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol and Agentic Directory.
Billtrust uses the protocol to recognise and authenticate the agent, allowing it to complete payments without shared supplier-portal logins or an additional agent login.
The pilot is processing transactions with participating BILL buyers and Billtrust suppliers. The agent only executes eligible payments already approved by the buyer.
“Businesses should not have to choose between automation and control when making payments,” said Mark Nelsen, Visa’s SVP and Head of Product, Commercial & Money Movement Solutions.
Digital Trade Outlook’s View
The pilot targets the manual submission of payments after invoice approval. Buyer-defined instructions remain in place, while supplier portals authenticate the agent and retain their acceptance policies. The change is in payment execution across the two platforms.
