Big banks lock AI agents out of customers' money

Four of the country's biggest banks moved this week to block outside AI agents from logging into customers' accounts. Read more: Big banks lock AI agents out of customers' money

Charles Schwab, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America are each blocking or sharply limiting third-party AI agents, including Meta's assistant Muse, from logging into accounts or moving client money. The moves came in a wave of reporting between October 16 and 18, 2026.

Amazon and Delta Air Lines have taken similar steps against AI shopping and travel-booking agents, though Amazon's block came in September.

What each bank is blocking

Schwab CEO Rick Wurster said on Bloomberg Television that the firm's weekly security report shows agents like Muse attempting to reach client funds tens to twenties of times each week.

"We don't want someone just giving their password to Muse, and letting Muse come in and take action on that client's behalf," Wurster said. "We can't control it, the client can't control it, something could go wrong and who's liable?"

Schwab now steers customers to its own assistant, Charley, which answers account questions but cannot execute trades. Outside AI tools get read-only connections called MCP servers, short for Model Context Protocol, that let an agent check a balance but never move money.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told analysts on the bank's earnings call that JPMorgan will not let outside agents operate inside its systems. "You don't want rogue agents," he said. The bank still lets some outside tools view account data through providers like Plaid, but not send payments.

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Citigroup has barred third-party agents from logging into accounts or transacting through its digital banking platform, the Financial Times reported, while allowing limited, read-only access through certain outside data-sharing services.

Bank of America has restricted agent access while it writes rules on who is liable when an AI-initiated payment goes wrong. CEO Brian Moynihan has said a human should have to approve any money leaving an account.

The money behind the bans

Amazon blocked Meta's Muse shopping agent in September, showing users a popup reading, "Continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon's Conditions of Use, to which our customers have agreed." Amazon says it asked Meta to exclude Amazon.com from Muse's shopping flow first, and that the agent never identified itself as AI while browsing.

Delta Air Lines has not issued a formal ban. Its head of global communications said the airline "currently has no partnerships or integrations" letting outside agents book flights for customers, Officechai reported, and travelers report their own booking agents simply getting rejected.

Executives frame the blocks as security and liability. A financial motive, reported separately, is also at work.

Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok told the Financial Times that AI agents hunting for yield could sweep household cash out of checking accounts paying the national average of 0.1 percent and into accounts paying 3.3 to 5.0 percent.

JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo together hold 1.6 trillion dollars in deposits that pay no interest, about 16 percent of their combined liabilities, the Financial Times reported. Paying even 3 percent interest on that money would cost the three banks roughly 47 billion dollars a year combined, nearly half their combined annual earnings, by the paper's estimate.

Amazon and other retailers have a version of the same incentive, Officechai reported: sponsored placements and recommendations generate tens of billions of dollars a year, revenue an AI agent that goes straight to checkout would bypass.

Locked out for now

Anyone hoping an AI assistant could handle their banking, shopping or travel bookings cannot do that yet. Major banks, Amazon and Delta have each decided the risk or the cost outweighs the convenience.

It is not clear whether security concerns or deposit economics is doing more to drive the banks' decisions, and the companies have not said. No major bank has announced a sanctioned way for an outside AI agent to move a customer's money.