US banks detect unvetted AI agents operating inside customer accounts

Axios reported on October 22, 2026 that customers are handing login credentials to personal AI agents, setting up a dispute over how agents should reach bank systems.

Major US banks are detecting activity from third-party AI agents inside customers’ online accounts, agents the banks have not vetted, CBS News reported on October 23, 2026, following an Axios report published the day before.

Madison Mills, a senior AI reporter at Axios, told CBS that in many cases customers give their bank usernames and passwords to personal AI agents, which breaks bank terms of service. Axios also found agents taking actions the customer had not authorized, such as calling a bank with a complaint without consulting the account holder first. Mills said the agents were not hacking accounts or draining funds and were mostly following user instructions. She described the problem as industrywide, affecting dozens of financial institutions.

A Chase spokesperson said customers should not share login credentials with anyone and pointed to secure, customer-authorized data sharing through open banking providers. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said on the bank’s October 13, 2026 earnings call that JPMorgan will not let just any outside agents into its systems. Charles Schwab’s CEO said earlier in October 2026 that Schwab has been blocking unauthorized agents, according to Reuters. Morgan Stanley said it had not seen unauthorized agent activity on its platforms. Bank of America and Wells Fargo did not immediately respond to CBS News.

David Sacks, the White House AI and crypto czar, posted on X that user-authorized agents are different from rogue agents that could amount to cyberattacks. Most of what Axios described looks like customers sharing credentials, he said, which may break bank terms but is not a cyberattack. He suggested banks could give agents read-only access, and said full write access with user credentials should be approached carefully.