AI assistants that can log in and pay bills for you are arriving faster than the rules for them. South Africa's big banks now have an answer for customers tempted to try: do not hand over your credentials. Absa told TechCentral that a customer who gives an AI agent their banking login could be held liable for any resulting losses.
Absa "strongly discourages" sharing credentials with third-party AI agents, said Jochem Melis, chief information officer of its engineering, services and platforms office. In the bank's view it is "no different from sharing them with any other third party". Absa does not use AI agents to reach customer accounts, and says its fraud systems look for patterns linked to unauthorised agent access.
Where each bank stands
- FNB does not let outside AI agents in. It is building a framework for approved assistants with explicit consent for every action, starting with information services. "No autonomy without control," said its AI executive, Dané Liebenberg.
- Capitec does not permit third-party agents, including screen-scraping tools, though it is rolling out an AI Scam Checker inside its app.
- Discovery Bank does not let outside agents start transactions. Its own Discovery AI tools ask clients to review and approve payments first.
- Standard Bank and Nedbank had not responded when TechCentral published.
On liability, all four banks said losses would be assessed case by case. Absa said its digital fraud warranty covers customers who transact responsibly and follow its security rules. Capitec and FNB pointed to their terms and urged customers never to share PINs, passwords or one-time PINs with anyone, AI tools included.
Why it is coming up now
The warning follows a report by Axios that big US banks had found unauthorised AI agents in customer accounts, some acting beyond what users asked. JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon said on 13 October the bank would not let "just any outside agent" in. Visa has signed up South African banks to its Agentic Ready programme, and the Financial Stability Board's final guidance on AI in finance, issued on 15 October, calls for human oversight. For now, the safe rule for customers is the old one: your login is yours alone.
