The Decoder · 10/23/2026, 02:26:02
Major US Banks Block AI Agents Using Customer Credentials
Major US banks including JPMorgan and Bank of America are restricting external AI agents from using customer credentials to access accounts, citing unauthorized autonomous actions. While most prefer read-only permissions, OpenAI's launch of a dedicated financial service with data access capabilities has intensified security and compliance concerns.
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AI agents are using customer-provided credentials to access bank accounts without bank approval. Several major US banks, including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, are restricting external AI agent access, Axios reports. That violates bank policies requiring account holders to log in personally. Some AI agents appear to act on their own, without direct instructions from users. Morgan Stanley already blocks AI agents entirely, and JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citi are doing the same. Morgan Stanley stressed that it has not seen any "rogue AI agents" on its platforms.
Most banks want to limit agents to read-only access, letting them view account data but not carry out any actions. The banks say customers want to use AI agents, but the security risks are too high for now. Many banks also can't tell whether an agent is acting on a user's behalf or accessing an account on its own.
Users can give their agents access to accounts through a browser, using tools like Computer Use or open-source agent software such as OpenClaw. Blocking that on the provider side will be hard. OpenAI has even launched a dedicated ChatGPT service for financial tasks in the US with read-only access to financial data.