Top US Banks Block AI Agents As Bots Access Customer Accounts Without Consent

Major US banks have been blocking third-party AI agents from operating inside customer accounts and making transactions, two people familiar with the situation said, following a report that AI agents were accessing bank accounts and taking actions independent of user instructions.

The banking industry has become increasingly concerned that sophisticated AI agents could harm the banking system and the institutions trusted to hold people's wealth.

An Axios report on Thursday said some AI agents attempted to take actions that appeared to be independent of user instructions, citing people familiar with the matter.  

In some cases, bank customers have shared their login ID and password with agents, with banks typically flagging and blocking those transactions, a person in the banking industry said. Still, such transactions cannot be deemed unauthorized if credentials were shared by the customer.

Morgan Stanley has blocked third-party agents from accessing its platforms, but it had not seen any instances of unauthorised or rogue AI agents, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

Top banking executives earlier this month discussed the risks of AI agents acting on customers' behalf, with some warning the technology is adding significant risks for both customers and banks. 

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon earlier this month said the largest US lender was developing tools to navigate the risk of AI 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 at the time.

Charles Schwab CEO Richard Wurster earlier this month also said the brokerage was blocking unauthorized agents.

"I get a report every day tracking how many times we've had to block one of the different agents, and it's not many because I think people aren't using it in that way in their financial life. We are blocking it because we want to have control over authentication and the experience," Wurster said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)