TLDR
- Major US banks are blocking third-party AI agents from operating inside customer accounts, according to Reuters and Axios.
- Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citi are among the banks restricting agent access.
- Banks say they struggle to tell whether an agent is user-directed or acting on its own.
- Charles Schwab says it blocks unauthorized agents but sees few attempts each day.
- Many banks are moving toward read-only access, similar to what apps like Quicken already have.
Major US banks have been blocking third-party AI agents from operating inside customer accounts and making transactions, two people familiar with the situation told Reuters. The move follows an Axios report that some agents were accessing bank accounts and taking actions that appeared independent of user instructions.
BREAKING: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley are scrambling after detecting unauthorized AI agents accessing customer bank accounts, contacting call centers, and reportedly attempting actions WITHOUT instructions from account holders, according to…
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) October 22, 2026
Banks including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citi are working to contain the risks, sources told Axios. Some of them are aware of unauthorized access, the people said.
What Banks Are Seeing
Most of the cases involve an AI assistant that logs in to a person’s account with the user’s permission and credentials. Most banks require humans to log in to their own accounts, so this goes against their guidelines.
This is insane. We cannot allow AI agents to go into your bank account and act independently without your authorization. But that is what’s happening right now.
Left unchecked, AI could endanger the entire global financial system — including your bank account.
Pause AI NOW! https://t.co/7fbqpubSfD
— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 22, 2026
In some cases, customers have shared their login ID and password with agents. Banks typically flag and block those transactions, a person in the industry said. Still, such transactions cannot be called unauthorized if the customer shared the credentials.
Banks have also tracked agents that contact call centers on a user’s behalf. Some appeared to take actions apart from what the user asked for, the people said.
One bank executive said the bank struggles to tell agents apart. The executive also said it is hard to know whether a user authorized an agent or whether the agent went rogue and gained access to an account.
What Banks Are Saying
Morgan Stanley has blocked third-party agents from accessing its platforms. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the bank had not seen any unauthorized or rogue AI agents. A spokesperson said the bank has not observed instances of “rogue AI agents accessing our platforms.”
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said earlier this month that the bank is building tools to manage the risk of agents carrying out tasks on their own. “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,” he said.
A Chase spokesperson said customers should not give their usernames and passwords to anyone.
Charles Schwab CEO Richard Wurster also said the brokerage is blocking unauthorized agents. He gets a daily report on how many times it has had to block one. He said the number is low because people are not using agents that way in their financial lives.
Wurster said Schwab is blocking agents because it wants control over authentication and the customer experience.
Where Banks Go Next
Most banks have approved, or are moving toward, read-only access. This would let agents see customer financial information without taking any action. Banks already give similar access to third-party apps such as Quicken for budgeting.
Executives told Axios they know customers will want to use agents in the future. They said they are looking for a middle ground, but the risks of being too permissive are too high for now.
Sources said money alone may not solve the problem because the technology changes so quickly. Banks are also planning for worst-case events, including “day after” plans to secure accounts and restore customer access quickly.
Top banking executives discussed the risks of agents acting on customers’ behalf earlier this month. The Axios report was published on Thursday, and Reuters reported the blocking on October 22.
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