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JPMorgan blocks outside agents from operating customer accounts
JPMorgan Chase is blocking outside agents such as Muse and Instinct from operating retail accounts, while read-only open-banking access remains.
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JPMorgan Chase will not let outside AI agents log in and operate retail customer accounts. Read-only access to some Chase data, such as balances, can still flow through open-banking connectors. Sending money or paying a bill cannot.
CEO Jamie Dimon drew that line on the bank's third-quarter earnings call. "We're not going to allow just any … outside agent to come in inside the company, because it's just too risky for clients and for JPMorgan," he told analysts. "You don't want rogue agents, and it could be thousands of them," he added.
A JPMorgan spokeswoman confirmed to CNBC that the bank currently blocks external AI agents from operating on behalf of retail customers. "Protecting our customers is our top priority. Because it is not safe, we do not permit third parties to access accounts by obtaining customers' banking credentials and logging in on their behalf," she said. She added that the bank supports secure, customer-authorized data sharing through open banking providers and is "committed to enabling agentic connections securely."
In practice, an agent can see some account data if Plaid or another connector already holds the user's credentials. It cannot move funds. The spokeswoman said there is no timeline for safeguards that would allow agents to interact directly with customer accounts.
CNBC names Muse and Instinct as examples of the outside agents kept off direct access. Instinct is a text-based digital concierge, launched earlier this year on an invitation-only basis by San Francisco-based Spear Street Technology, which reached a $10 billion valuation last month. Muse is Meta's agent; CNBC said bank stocks were hit in September after it topped app-download charts, on fears customers would move funds from low-yielding accounts.
Dimon said JPMorgan is using AI agents internally and plans to deploy them for customer-facing applications. The approach, he said, is not about being for or against the technology, but about ensuring it serves customers safely. Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said that in recent weeks the bank began a targeted pilot of an internal tool, Smart Cash, which aims to predict a user's cash flow and move funds to maximize yield. That remains a pilot, not a product launch.
Dimon said customers using outside agents should understand the risk and that there is a liability transfer. "If people are using them, they should understand the risk," he said. "They should understand there's a liability transfer."
Read CNBC's account of the earnings-call remarks and the spokeswoman's confirmation, then The Verge's October 14 note, before treating any outside agent as able to move Chase money.