AI agents can now shop, book trips and fill in forms. Two of America's biggest financial firms have drawn a line at moving money. Charles Schwab is blocking outside AI agents that try to move its clients' money, including Meta's Muse, chief executive Rick Wurster told Bloomberg Television, according to The Next Web.
"We can't control it, the client can't control it, something could go wrong and who's liable?" Wurster said.
What the banks are doing
The problem, Wurster said, is clients handing their passwords to an agent that then logs in and acts for them. Schwab is blocking agents that use client credentials or browser automation, American Banker reports. He gets a weekly report on the blocks, and the big agents are stopped in the tens and twenties each week.
Instead, Schwab will set up model context protocol (MCP) servers, controlled links that let a client's chosen AI connect under Schwab's rules. Outside tools will be able to check balances and research, but not move money. Schwab also wants clients to use Charley, its own assistant, announced on 30 September.
JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon took a similar line on the bank's earnings call. He would not let any "outside agent to come in inside the company, because that's just too risky for clients and for JPMorgan," American Banker reports. JPMorgan already lets some third-party tools view account data, but not send money or pay bills, according to The Next Web.
Safety, or protecting the business?
Both, say critics. Analysts have pointed out that agents could automatically sweep idle cash out of low-yield brokerage accounts into better-paying investments, which would hit the interest income these firms earn on that cash, American Banker reports. "An outside agent works for the client. Charley works for Schwab," said Tim Welsh of Nexus Strategies.
