On JPMorgan’s third quarter earnings call yesterday, CEO Jamie Dimon expressed concern about AI agents, while CFO Jeremy Barnum discussed the risks of credential sharing and screen scraping.

JPMorgan has one of the largest technology budgets in the banking sector, with plans to spend almost $20 billion on technology overall in 2026. But the C-suite executives’ comments are in no way a rejection of agentic AI as an enabling technology. The bank is already using agentic AI to automate workflows, improve employee productivity, and streamline internal processes. “Internally, we use agents to do things here, and we are going to continue to do that,” Dimon said on the call. “And we do. We will use it for customers, but our focus would always be do a great job for customers.”

But when it comes to consumer use of agentic AI, the bank said it is restricting certain methods external agents use to access customer accounts. Barnum said the bank is blocking insecure access where it can and working toward safer alternatives.

This stance has five implications banks should consider as they weigh their own attitudes toward the use of external agents.

For years, the banking industry has been moving away from screen scraping and toward more secure, API-based data sharing. However, as consumers begin using AI agents capable of navigating banking websites like human customers, the industry’s progress toward standardized, permissioned data access could face a new challenge.

Agentic AI introduces a new version of the old screen-scraping debate, as third parties may be able to access customer information without relying on bank-approved APIs.

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