Schwab CEO: Bank Blocks Meta's Muse AI Agent From Moving Client Money

Charles Schwab CEO Rick Wurster said on Oct. 16 that the brokerage is actively blocking Meta's Muse AI agent from accessing client accounts or moving money, citing unacceptable risks and unclear liability.

"We don't want someone just giving their password to Muse, and letting Muse come in and take action on that client's behalf," Wurster told Bloomberg TV. "For the protection of the client and for the protection of us, we're not allowing it." He said he receives weekly reports on blocked AI agents, with numbers in the tens and twenties per week, not yet crossing into the hundreds.

Earlier this week, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said on an earnings call that the bank prohibits outside AI agents due to risk, and a spokesperson said the ban currently applies to external agents for retail clients. "You don't want rogue agents, and it could be thousands of them," Dimon added.

Wurster also encouraged the use of Schwab's in-house AI assistant Charley, launched in September, which currently handles only administrative and informational tasks, not trading. Schwab is preparing to allow external LLM connections through controlled Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, where actions will be restricted—external LLMs will be able to check balances and do research, but not move money. He also noted a growing subset of clients trading through LLMs and APIs, with requests submitted only through Schwab's APIs and MCP servers for control and verification.