U.S. banks are restricting artificial intelligence (AI) agents’ access to their clients’ financial accounts to prevent unauthorized transactions. In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday (16), Charles Schwab Corp. CEO Rick Wurster said the company blocks third-party tools that attempt to move money on behalf of users, including Meta’s Muse.
The decision aims to protect clients and the institution itself from potential problems related to the use of these tools, especially when they are given account access credentials. Despite the restrictions, Wurster acknowledged that artificial intelligence can help with financial management and said the company intends to allow the use of external models in certain activities, provided that safeguards are in place.
Schwab restricts agents’ access to accounts
According to Wurster, Charles Schwab does not allow external agents to access clients’ accounts to perform financial transactions without the necessary controls. The executive questioned who would be held responsible if a tool received a user’s password, carried out an improper transaction and caused losses.
“We don’t want someone simply to give their password to Muse and let it log in and make decisions on behalf of that client,” Wurster said in the interview.He added that the company would not be able to fully control the agent’s behavior and that the client itself could also lose control over the actions taken.
The executive said he receives weekly reports on blocked attempts. According to him, the main AI agents are prevented from accessing financial accounts dozens of times a week, with records showing dozens or around twenty occurrences.
For Wurster, the figures indicate that although people show interest in artificial intelligence, they are still not willing to fully trust these tools with control over their financial accounts.
Charley will be the alternative offered by the company
Instead of allowing external agents to move funds freely, Charles Schwab intends to direct its clients to Charley, an AI assistant developed by the company itself and introduced in the month before the interview.
The tool is part of the company’s strategy to incorporate AI into financial services while retaining control over transactions carried out on behalf of users.
Schwab also plans to prepare secure connections to integrate external large language models (LLMs) with its systems.To this end, the company intends to use servers based on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a protocol that enables AI models to connect to systems and data sources.
According to Wurster, these connections will allow the institution to control the authentication process and define what information each tool may access.
With this setup, external models will be able to check account balances and conduct searches, but they will not be allowed to move money. The proposal is to enable certain functionality without granting agents unrestricted access to clients’ financial transactions.
JPMorgan also advocates limits for AI
Charles Schwab’s position follows recent statements by Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Earlier that same week, the executive said that he, too, does not intend to grant external agents unrestricted access to information about his clients’ accounts.
The statements indicate a concern shared by banking executives regarding limits on AI tools’ access to financial data and sensitive transactions.
The institutions cited do not reject the use of technology by consumers, but advocate mechanisms that allow control over what information agents can access and what actions they are authorized to perform.
Ana Figueiredo is Olhar Digital’s technology editor. She graduated in Journalism from the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU).
