US Banks Block AI Agents Attempting to Move Money for Customers

Bank executives are welcoming consumers’ use of artificial intelligence to aid their financial lives — as long as they play by the rules.

Charles Schwab Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rick Wurster said his brokerage, wealth-management and banking company is actively blocking unauthorized AI agents attempting to move clients’ money, including Meta Platforms Inc.’s Muse.

“We don’t want someone just giving their password to Muse, and letting Muse come in and take action on that client’s behalf. We can’t control it, the client can’t control it, something could go wrong and who’s liable?” Wurster said Friday in a Bloomberg Television interview. “For the protection of the client and for the protection of us, we’re not allowing it.”

Wurster’s comments are in line with those of JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon, who said earlier this week that he also won’t be giving outside agents free rein with customer-account information.

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“I get a report on how many times we’ve blocked clients from using one of these agents in a week and it’s in the tens and twenties — per week — that the big agents are being blocked,” Wurster said Friday. “What that tells me is that while people love AI, they’re not willing to turn their financial accounts over to them just yet.”

Wurster acknowledged that AI is helping consumers’ finances, but instead of dispatching legions of agents armed with sensitive credentials attempting to shuttle funds between accounts, he wants Schwab customers to use Charley, the firm’s proprietary AI assistant unveiled last month. He also said Schwab will prepare secure pathways, known as model context protocol servers, to connect external large-language models to Schwab’s systems.

“What that allows us to do is control the authentication process and also control what they can access,” Wurster said. “We’re not going to allow them to move money, but if they want to come in and see their account balances and do research, they will be able to do that through their LLMs.”