Tencent and Visa are broadening their cooperation in cross-border payments and artificial intelligence-driven commerce, the companies announced Thursday, strengthening their efforts to expand within China’s payments industry.
The deal comes after new regulatory clearances allowed U.S. financial companies to increase their activities in China. Visa and Citi both received approval this month to expand their operations in the world’s second-largest economy.
Through a memorandum of understanding, Tencent and Visa will examine ways to simplify payments for people traveling to and from China, while also extending their existing cross-border funds-transfer relationship.
The companies said they would explore payment tools that enable travelers to pay participating merchants through the combination of Tencent’s Weixin Pay platform and Visa’s global network, subject to applicable regulations.
The partnership is also expected to grow through Visa Direct, the company’s money-transfer service, which could help customers overseas move funds into the Weixin Pay ecosystem more easily.
The expanded relationship will include agentic commerce, a developing retail model in which AI-powered agents assist shoppers with discovering, choosing and purchasing products or services.
Dowson Tong, Tencent’s senior executive vice president and chief executive of its Cloud and Smart Industries Group, said the collaboration would bring together Tencent’s artificial intelligence expertise and Visa’s international payments network to improve cross-border transactions.
“We hope to create more seamless commerce experiences for consumers and new opportunities for businesses, both in China and internationally,” he said.
The announcement follows Visa’s approval earlier this month from the People’s Bank of China to prepare for a domestic bank card clearing business. The decision moves Visa closer to entering China’s domestic payments market after more than 40 years of operating in the country.
Visa and Tencent have worked together since at least 2019, when the U.S. payments company unveiled plans to let international Visa cardholders use WeChat Pay for purchases in China.
Tencent has continued to build relationships with other major international payments companies.
In December last year, Mastercard and Tencent’s international payments platform Midas agreed to combine Mastercard’s Click to Pay and payment-security technology with Midas’ overseas payment services. The companies said the initiative would make online purchases quicker and safer.
Last week, Citi announced that it had secured approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to create a wholly owned securities firm in China.
Based in Shanghai, Citigroup Securities (China) will provide services such as equity brokerage, securities underwriting, research and principal trading to clients in China and abroad.
Citi said it would finish the outstanding regulatory steps before launching the business.
The latest approvals arrive as Beijing continues to grant foreign companies greater access to selected parts of China’s financial sector.
CNBC previously reported, citing a U.S. Treasury official, that American officials raised market access for Mastercard, Visa and Citigroup during bilateral discussions in Bangkok.
The official said the regulatory clearances were also included in an agreement reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Washington last month.
