Major US banks move to block third-party AI agents from customer accounts

Major US banks have been detecting activity by unvetted third-party AI agents inside customers' online accounts and are moving to block their logins and transactions.

What was found

Axios reported on October 22 that banks were finding customers' personal AI agents operating in their accounts. In many cases customers had simply handed their username and password to an agent the bank had not vetted, against the bank's terms of service. "In other cases, in our reporting, we did find evidence that appeared to look like agents taking actions in customer accounts that were not authorized," Axios senior AI reporter Madison Mills told CBS News, citing an agent calling a bank with a complaint without first consulting the account holder. Mills said the agents were not going rogue or draining accounts; they were largely following user instructions without the bank's permission.

Reuters, citing two people familiar with the situation, reported that major US banks have been blocking third-party agents from operating inside customer accounts and making transactions. Where customers shared their own credentials, such transactions cannot be deemed unauthorized, but banks typically flag and block them, one banking industry source said. Morgan Stanley has blocked third-party agents from its platforms but had not seen any unauthorized or rogue agents, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Banks and the White House weigh in

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said on the bank's October 13 earnings call: "We're not going to allow just any outside agent to come in inside the company because that's just too risky for clients and for JPMorgan." Charles Schwab CEO Rick Wurster said the brokerage was blocking unauthorized agents "because we want to have control over authentication and the experience." A Chase spokesperson told CBS News that customers should not share their usernames and passwords with anyone and that the bank supports secure, customer-authorized data sharing through open-banking providers.

White House AI czar David Sacks said on X that there is "a world of difference between user-authorized agents" and "true unauthorized/rogue agents that could constitute cyberattacks," adding that most of the activity described by Axios appeared to be the former and "may violate bank terms" but was "in no way cyberattacks." He suggested banks could grant agents read-only access, while "full write access (with user credentials) is a different risk category and should be approached carefully."

As AI agents increasingly shop, pay bills and handle money on people's behalf, how banks draw the lines on security and liability is becoming a central question for the industry.

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Sources: Axios, Reuters, CBS News. Image: Getty Images (via CBS News).