Citigroup and Bank of America have restricted AI agents’ access to customer accounts amid concerns that autonomous assistants could move depositors’ funds en masse into higher-yield products, the Financial Times reported. In October 2026, banking industry representatives approached US Federal Reserve regulators about the growing use of AI in financial transactions as banks warned that they could lose low-cost deposits used for lending.

Banks limit AI agents’ account access

Citigroup said it does not allow third-party AI agents or assistants to log into customer accounts or independently conduct transactions through its digital banking services. The bank said the restriction is necessary to protect accounts and customers’ personal data, although customers can grant some open-banking services limited, read-only access to account information.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said the bank is working with developers of agentic systems on rules defining liability for payments initiated by artificial intelligence.

“We strongly believe there should be a human in the loop to authorise money moving out of your account,” Moynihan said.

He said banks want to prevent customers from discovering that money is missing without understanding where it was transferred or why. The debate intensified after Meta launched its personal AI assistant Muse in September, while technology companies are developing personal-finance tools designed to move money automatically between accounts to optimize yield.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank will restrict third-party AI agents’ access to customer accounts because thousands of uncontrolled agents could seek access.

“We have to make sure we protect our customers in the right way. So, we’re building tools to do that, too. In the meantime, we’re not going to allow just any outside agent to come inside the company because that’s just too risky for clients and for JPMorgan,” Dimon said during a discussion of the bank’s quarterly results.

Deposit shifts could raise banks’ costs

Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok estimated that AI agents could automatically move household savings from US checking accounts paying an average yield of 0.1% into accounts yielding 3.3% to 5%.

Slok said widespread adoption of such tools could deprive banks of a significant share of the low-cost deposits they use for lending. JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo together hold $1.6 trillion in non-interest-bearing deposits, equivalent to about 16% of their liabilities.

If the banks had to service those funds at a 3% rate, their costs would rise by about $47 billion a year, according to the estimate. That would equal nearly half of their combined annual profit.

Federal Reserve officials privately supported limiting AI agents’ access to customer accounts, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Regulators believe the legal rules governing authorization of transactions by autonomous systems, and liability when errors occur, need clarification.

Christoph Stegmaier, a senior partner at consulting firm Simon-Kucher, said banks will need to do more to encourage customers to retain their savings with them, including through loyalty programs and more attractive lending terms.

“You have to make your deposit products stickier,” he said.

Source: Incrypted