Citi, Bank of America restrict AI agent access to customer accounts

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US banks restrict AI agent access

Highlights

Citi and Bank of America have restricted third-party AI agents from account access and transactions, citing safeguarding and liability concerns amid rising use of AI-driven finance tools.
AI agents enabling automatic cash transfers towards accounts paying 3.3 to 5 per cent threaten banks’ access to cheap funding, as most checking accounts average just 0.1 per cent interest.
JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo risk $47bn in extra annual costs if forced to pay 3 per cent on their $1.6tn non-interest-bearing deposits, slashing nearly half their combined annual earnings.

Bank safeguards and liability concerns

As first reported by the Financial Times, Citigroup and Bank of America are limiting AI agents' ability to access client accounts as lenders raise concerns that automated tools could move deposits in search of better returns.

Citi says it does not permit "third-party AI agents or assistants to log into a customer’s account or transact directly within our digital banking platforms", adding that the policy is designed to help safeguard customer accounts and information. The bank says customers can still authorise limited, read-only access to account data with certain open-banking providers.

Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan also indicates the bank is restricting AI agents' access to consumer deposits while it works on protocols to determine which entity is ultimately liable for payments authorised by artificial intelligence. A person familiar with the matter confirms that BofA has restricted access.

Moynihan tells CNBC that the bank believes a person should authorise money leaving an account. JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon says this week that the bank will also be restrictive about agentic AI tools accessing client accounts because of the risk posed by "rogue agents".

Profit pressure and broader industry impact

The tighter stance follows the September launch of Meta's Muse AI personal assistant, which heightens concerns that consumer bots could shift large sums of idle cash away from traditional bank deposits as they seek to optimise returns. AI companies are racing to introduce tools aimed at helping households manage personal finances more actively.

Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok warns that AI assistants could automatically sweep household cash into accounts paying 3.3 per cent to 5 per cent, far above the 0.1 per cent national average on checking accounts. He writes that if every household uses AI agents to optimise returns on cash balances, banks could lose a large share of the cheap deposits they rely on to make loans, creating a problem for the wider financial system.

JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo hold $1.6tn of non-interest-bearing deposits, equal to 16 per cent of their liabilities. Paying a 3 per cent rate on those balances would cost them $47bn a year, nearly half of their combined annual earnings, underscoring the potential hit to profitability if banks have to offer higher rates to retain retail funding.

Wall Street executives have also reached out to the Federal Reserve over the rapid increase in consumers using AI agents to carry out financial transactions, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Regulators have privately welcomed banks' moves to block access by AI agents and believe legal clarification may be needed on customer authorisation and liability when autonomous technology executes transactions.

Christoph Stegmeier, a senior partner at Simon-Kucher, says banks may increasingly need to keep deposits through incentives such as broader loyalty programmes that also influence borrowing rates. He says deposit products will need to become stickier.

In our earlier article on the Bank of England’s push for “bare metal” recovery planning, we explained why UK regulators want banks to be able to restore critical services even if core systems are compromised. We noted that advances in AI are increasing the scale and complexity of cyberattacks, prompting supervisors to demand stronger end-to-end resilience and clearer operational recovery options across the financial system.

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