April 30, 2025 • 8 mins
Visa Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ryan McInerney said advertising will be forced to evolve as shoppers turn to artificial intelligence agents to help them browse products and make purchases. He is joined by Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We are now joined by the leader of Visa Visa CEO,
Ryan McInerney. It is great to have some time with you, Ryan,
and really with at this age of AI, everyone wants
to talk about AGENTAKI and my question is, when it
starts paying for things on my behalf, how do you
make that safe? I know you're thinking a lot about
it via the Visa Intelligent Comma.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah. Well, we made some product announcements this week at
our Visa product drop that talk through a whole bunch
of different ways that it's going to enable agents to
buy on your behalf in a safe and secure way.
And we think it's going to revolution at shopping. It's
going to make it a much better, simpler, easier experience
for all of us. And we're really looking forward to
deploying those products out in the ecosystem with our partners.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
When we're talking about products, you're talking about security, personalization, tokenization.
Can you explain exactly what this ultimate technology is doing?
How will my future of commas look as an individual?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, So, first of all, we're all going to have
agents and they're going to be able to go out
and scour the world's inventory and find what it is
that we're looking for, either for ourselves, maybe it's tickets
to a hard to get concert, or as a gift,
a hyper relevant gift for my wife from other's day.
And what we've announced is a set of tools that
(01:23):
give agents the capabilities to go make payments on your behalf.
Think of that as AI enabled visa credentials, and also
the rules and the capabilities that will provide trust, trust
that consumers will have in their agents, trust that merchants
are going to have that they're going to get paid,
and trust that financial institutions will have that you've actually
(01:44):
empowered your agent to make those purchases on your behalf.
So we announced AI enabled visa cards that's going to
allow you to give your agent agency, giving them your
visa credentials to go buy something on your behalf. But
we also announced important case abilities, things that enable you
to set parameters and tell your agent how long do
(02:05):
you want them to go look for something, maybe those
concert tickets we were talking about, how much are you
willing for your agent to spend even to designate specific
merchants that you want your agent to go look at
and not go look at other merchants. So it's the products,
it's the capabilities that are going to give you and
everyone else trust that your agent is going to go
buy exactly what you're looking for on your behalf.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Okay, so that concert. What year are we talking? How
are we going to start to see the companies embrace
the fact that I will have an agent that will
go out scouring and buying on my behalf.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, you're going to see this in months. You're going
to see this in the next couple quarters. We announced
a series of partnerships with all of the leading players
in this space, with OpenAI, with Microsoft, with Anthropic, with Perplexity,
with IBM, with Stripe, with all of the key players
that are building out the infrastructure to enable this type
(02:57):
of buying and shopping experience. So it's going to be
here soon.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But what about the ticket marketers, the live nations, the
stub hubs. When do they say, yeah, sure, bring us
your agent. We don't need that relationship with you directly anymore.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Caroline, Well, I think this is where Visa steps in,
and this is where given the network that we have,
the trust that we engender among buyers and sellers in
the US and around the world. We believe that these
platforms and capabilities are going to give, in your example,
the ticket Masters, the trust that your agent is just
someone you've extended your own desires and capabilities to and
(03:33):
they're really an extension of what you're looking to do.
So I think this is where we play an important
role in building out that ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I'm really fascinated as to therefore, how to keep this
analogy going. Ticketmaster then comes to me, how do they advertise?
What will this do in terms of disintermediating the experience
of an ad Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Do think that over the course of time, the whole
idea of advertising will need to evolve. Agents are going
to make shopping a much more efficient and much more
effective process on behalf of all of us, whether it's
tickets or that Mother's Day gift that I mentioned. There's
so much inventory out there, there's so many places to
go buy, and we just don't have the time to
(04:14):
optimize our own shopping experience. So I think shopping is
going to evolve. I think advertising will have to evolve.
We know that payments is going to evolve to enable
all of this, and we're excited about the role that
we play in that part of it.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And you've been making that role clear and investing and
innovating at a time where companies are kind of a
bit nervous to spend any sort of money. Right now,
I know what to do with it. I know you're
in quiet period and you can't really talk more broad
about what the consumer's feeling. But what about you as
a leader in this moment, how do you have the
conviction to spend.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, we're looking at the medium and long term opportunities
for our company and for our clients and for the ecosystem,
and we're very excited about the future of not just
a gentic commerce that you and I were talking about,
but enabling digital payments and commerce all around the world.
In the two hundre d plus countries and territories in
which we operate with you know, fifteen thousand financial institutions
(05:05):
and consumers that have you know, more than four and
a half billion credentials out there. We see enormous opportunity
one year, five year, ten years out and we remain
very committed to investing to deliver that opportunity for our
clients and our partners and our investors, and.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
More broadly, do you think that you and Visa ultimately
will remain the rails with which we do all of this.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, we see Visa as an incredibly important platform enabling
digital commerce all around the world, not just today, but
for the foreseeable future. You know, this is the type
of innovation that we have said we're committed to. If
you look back in time, you look at the rise
of e commerce, Visa was essential in making that happen.
You look at the rise of mobile payments, Visa was
(05:48):
essential in making that happen. Now you look at the
rise of his agentic payments and agentic commerce, and with
the investments that we've been making and the products that
we announced this week, we believe will be essential and
very real event with this next wave of commerce that
emerges from here.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
And you, as someone who's continuing to steer this business
in this moment, how have you found just as a
CEO trying to make decisions? Have you found this moment
compared to I mean, I know that you're leading this
Visa into this new age. Has it been destabilizing to
try and make to make executive decisions when you don't
know where the next political discernment and disagreement is going
(06:27):
to erupt. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I think what we as a leadership team are committed
to is supporting our clients, supporting our innovation roadmap. There
is uncertainty in the world today, there's no question about that.
But what our north star is is having a vision
seeing where commerce is ultimately going, seeing what consumers and
buyers and sellers are ultimately looking for, and then designing
and delivering the future of commerce to enable that. And
(06:50):
you know, we're going to be in uncertain times in
some ways, that's what gives us enthusiasm and excitement about
the type of products and solutions we're bringing market to
bring in to market to enable this roadmap.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
What about the regulatory environment because for many perhaps it
hasn't quite panned out as many and a thought within
the new administration in the DOJ.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
The regulatory environment in the US and all around the
world evolves all the time. For us, as you can imagine,
our regulators in the two hundred countries that we do
business around the world are very interested in US, and
we're engaging with them every day. You know, we're working
hard to give them certainty on what we're committed to,
what we're delivering how we're ultimately supporting the economies in
(07:31):
which we do business around the world. And you know,
those relationships evolve over time as different administrations in different
countries have different priorities, But we remain committed to serving
the countries in which we do business and ultimately enabling
their economies to grow and.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Through an artificial intelligence future. Is there enough rules of
the game there for you to continue to innovate in
the space.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Well, I think that's where we again play an important role.
We need to provide as it relates to payments, the rules,
this standards, helping the whole ecosystem understand when there's a
dispute or a chargeback or fraud driven by agents, how
does that work when you either use or accept visa credentials?
And those are the types of things we've been working
(08:14):
hard on with the partners that I mentioned earlier, and
we think those are in part the rules and capabilities
that are going to provide trust between consumers, merchants, financial institutions,
and ultimately the agents affecting commerce on behalf of all
of us
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
We are now joined by the leader of Visa Visa CEO,
Ryan McInerney. It is great to have some time with you, Ryan,
and really with at this age of AI, everyone wants
to talk about AGENTAKI and my question is, when it
starts paying for things on my behalf, how do you
make that safe? I know you're thinking a lot about
it via the Visa Intelligent Comma.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah. Well, we made some product announcements this week at
our Visa product drop that talk through a whole bunch
of different ways that it's going to enable agents to
buy on your behalf in a safe and secure way.
And we think it's going to revolution at shopping. It's
going to make it a much better, simpler, easier experience
for all of us. And we're really looking forward to
deploying those products out in the ecosystem with our partners.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
When we're talking about products, you're talking about security, personalization, tokenization.
Can you explain exactly what this ultimate technology is doing?
How will my future of commas look as an individual?
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, So, first of all, we're all going to have
agents and they're going to be able to go out
and scour the world's inventory and find what it is
that we're looking for, either for ourselves, maybe it's tickets
to a hard to get concert, or as a gift,
a hyper relevant gift for my wife from other's day.
And what we've announced is a set of tools that
(01:23):
give agents the capabilities to go make payments on your behalf.
Think of that as AI enabled visa credentials, and also
the rules and the capabilities that will provide trust, trust
that consumers will have in their agents, trust that merchants
are going to have that they're going to get paid,
and trust that financial institutions will have that you've actually
(01:44):
empowered your agent to make those purchases on your behalf.
So we announced AI enabled visa cards that's going to
allow you to give your agent agency, giving them your
visa credentials to go buy something on your behalf. But
we also announced important case abilities, things that enable you
to set parameters and tell your agent how long do
(02:05):
you want them to go look for something, maybe those
concert tickets we were talking about, how much are you
willing for your agent to spend even to designate specific
merchants that you want your agent to go look at
and not go look at other merchants. So it's the products,
it's the capabilities that are going to give you and
everyone else trust that your agent is going to go
buy exactly what you're looking for on your behalf.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Okay, so that concert. What year are we talking? How
are we going to start to see the companies embrace
the fact that I will have an agent that will
go out scouring and buying on my behalf.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, you're going to see this in months. You're going
to see this in the next couple quarters. We announced
a series of partnerships with all of the leading players
in this space, with OpenAI, with Microsoft, with Anthropic, with Perplexity,
with IBM, with Stripe, with all of the key players
that are building out the infrastructure to enable this type
(02:57):
of buying and shopping experience. So it's going to be
here soon.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But what about the ticket marketers, the live nations, the
stub hubs. When do they say, yeah, sure, bring us
your agent. We don't need that relationship with you directly anymore.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Caroline, Well, I think this is where Visa steps in,
and this is where given the network that we have,
the trust that we engender among buyers and sellers in
the US and around the world. We believe that these
platforms and capabilities are going to give, in your example,
the ticket Masters, the trust that your agent is just
someone you've extended your own desires and capabilities to and
(03:33):
they're really an extension of what you're looking to do.
So I think this is where we play an important
role in building out that ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I'm really fascinated as to therefore, how to keep this
analogy going. Ticketmaster then comes to me, how do they advertise?
What will this do in terms of disintermediating the experience
of an ad Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Do think that over the course of time, the whole
idea of advertising will need to evolve. Agents are going
to make shopping a much more efficient and much more
effective process on behalf of all of us, whether it's
tickets or that Mother's Day gift that I mentioned. There's
so much inventory out there, there's so many places to
go buy, and we just don't have the time to
(04:14):
optimize our own shopping experience. So I think shopping is
going to evolve. I think advertising will have to evolve.
We know that payments is going to evolve to enable
all of this, and we're excited about the role that
we play in that part of it.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And you've been making that role clear and investing and
innovating at a time where companies are kind of a
bit nervous to spend any sort of money. Right now,
I know what to do with it. I know you're
in quiet period and you can't really talk more broad
about what the consumer's feeling. But what about you as
a leader in this moment, how do you have the
conviction to spend.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, we're looking at the medium and long term opportunities
for our company and for our clients and for the ecosystem,
and we're very excited about the future of not just
a gentic commerce that you and I were talking about,
but enabling digital payments and commerce all around the world.
In the two hundre d plus countries and territories in
which we operate with you know, fifteen thousand financial institutions
(05:05):
and consumers that have you know, more than four and
a half billion credentials out there. We see enormous opportunity
one year, five year, ten years out and we remain
very committed to investing to deliver that opportunity for our
clients and our partners and our investors, and.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
More broadly, do you think that you and Visa ultimately
will remain the rails with which we do all of this.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, we see Visa as an incredibly important platform enabling
digital commerce all around the world, not just today, but
for the foreseeable future. You know, this is the type
of innovation that we have said we're committed to. If
you look back in time, you look at the rise
of e commerce, Visa was essential in making that happen.
You look at the rise of mobile payments, Visa was
(05:48):
essential in making that happen. Now you look at the
rise of his agentic payments and agentic commerce, and with
the investments that we've been making and the products that
we announced this week, we believe will be essential and
very real event with this next wave of commerce that
emerges from here.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
And you, as someone who's continuing to steer this business
in this moment, how have you found just as a
CEO trying to make decisions? Have you found this moment
compared to I mean, I know that you're leading this
Visa into this new age. Has it been destabilizing to
try and make to make executive decisions when you don't
know where the next political discernment and disagreement is going
(06:27):
to erupt. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I think what we as a leadership team are committed
to is supporting our clients, supporting our innovation roadmap. There
is uncertainty in the world today, there's no question about that.
But what our north star is is having a vision
seeing where commerce is ultimately going, seeing what consumers and
buyers and sellers are ultimately looking for, and then designing
and delivering the future of commerce to enable that. And
(06:50):
you know, we're going to be in uncertain times in
some ways, that's what gives us enthusiasm and excitement about
the type of products and solutions we're bringing market to
bring in to market to enable this roadmap.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
What about the regulatory environment because for many perhaps it
hasn't quite panned out as many and a thought within
the new administration in the DOJ.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
The regulatory environment in the US and all around the
world evolves all the time. For us, as you can imagine,
our regulators in the two hundred countries that we do
business around the world are very interested in US, and
we're engaging with them every day. You know, we're working
hard to give them certainty on what we're committed to,
what we're delivering how we're ultimately supporting the economies in
(07:31):
which we do business around the world. And you know,
those relationships evolve over time as different administrations in different
countries have different priorities, But we remain committed to serving
the countries in which we do business and ultimately enabling
their economies to grow and.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Through an artificial intelligence future. Is there enough rules of
the game there for you to continue to innovate in
the space.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Well, I think that's where we again play an important role.
We need to provide as it relates to payments, the rules,
this standards, helping the whole ecosystem understand when there's a
dispute or a chargeback or fraud driven by agents, how
does that work when you either use or accept visa credentials?
And those are the types of things we've been working
(08:14):
hard on with the partners that I mentioned earlier, and
we think those are in part the rules and capabilities
that are going to provide trust between consumers, merchants, financial institutions,
and ultimately the agents affecting commerce on behalf of all
of us
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