Visa has enrolled South African banks in its Agentic Ready programme, laying the infrastructure for fully autonomous AI-driven payments where software agents shop, compare prices, and complete transactions without human involvement. However, only 23% of South African consumers trust AI agents to make purchases on their behalf, according to Visa's Stay Secure 2026 study. The technology stack includes Visa Intelligent Commerce APIs, the Agentic Ready programme, and the Visa Trusted Agent Protocol. On the fraud side, 42.5% of fraud attempts now involve AI, with AI-powered scams growing over 1,210% in 2025. Visa's AI fraud detection claims 92–98% accuracy versus ~25% for rule-based systems. Liability for fraudulent agentic transactions follows existing Visa rules, with the consumer remaining the originating party.
