Imagine an assistant that manages your money for you. It spots unnecessary fees, pays your bills on time, puts your savings where they earn the most. All you have to do is give it your bank details.
That is precisely what the big American banks have just refused to do.
What is happening
This week, several major US banks drew the same line. The boss of Charles Schwab, a large brokerage and banking firm, explained that his company blocks outside AI agents that try to connect to client accounts to move money, including Muse, Meta's agent. According to him, these blocks run into the dozens every week.
Jamie Dimon, the boss of JPMorgan, was just as clear: his bank will not let outside agents into its systems, for fear of seeing thousands of uncontrollable agents appear. Bank of America believes a human must always authorise any outgoing payment. Citigroup also refuses to let third-party agents connect to accounts or carry out transactions there.
Reading, yes. Paying, no.
The banks are not closing the door on AI completely. They make a simple distinction: an agent may consult, it may not act.
Schwab is therefore preparing secure connections that will allow the AI chosen by a client to view balances and run analyses, but not to move money. JPMorgan already lets some outside tools read account data, without being able to send a transfer or pay a bill.
Security, but not only that
The official reason is security: an agent that makes a mistake or gets hacked can empty an account. But there is also an economic issue, which analysts were quick to point out. In the United States, the big banks hold enormous sums in accounts that earn almost nothing. A slightly clever AI agent could automatically move that money into better-paying investments, elsewhere. For the banks, the security of their clients and the protection of their deposits point the same way.
In France, giving your bank credentials to a third party is not a trivial matter. Payment law provides that in the event of a fraudulent transaction, the bank must in principle reimburse you, unless you have committed gross negligence. Yet sharing your personal codes can be considered as such, and deprive you of reimbursement. Services that access your accounts legally, such as bank aggregators, use regulated connections and approved providers, and never ask you to hand over your password.
Using AI for your finances without risk
Never give your bank details to an assistant or an AI agent, whatever it may be.
Work from documents. To analyse your spending, export your statements, remove sensitive information, and hand over only the amounts and descriptions, as we explained for tracking down forgotten subscriptions.
Favour your bank's own tools. Many already offer budget analyses or alerts, without letting your data leave.
Keep control of every payment. If an agent is ever to book or buy something for you, insist on approving it yourself every time. A virtual card with a low limit, offered by many banks, limits the damage if something goes wrong.
For more on this, our guide to giving access without giving everything remains the reference.
What to take away
AI agents promise to handle everything, including our money. The banks have just reminded us of the obvious: a tool capable of emptying your account needs to be kept on a leash.
AI can help you understand your finances. For decisions that commit your money, the final click should remain yours.