RBC CEO Sounds Alarm on AI Agent Access to Bank Accounts, Calls for Stronger Guardrails

Royal Bank of Canada CEO Dave McKay is pushing back against third-party AI agents accessing customer accounts, citing insufficient safeguards and unclear liability—even as his own institution deploys custom AI tools to accelerate decision-making. McKay revealed that RBC is considering blocking Meta's Muse AI agent from accessing customer information, a move aligned with growing industry concern that autonomous agents could transfer funds or extract data without proper authorization. "You have to protect that consumer and then we're liable for that as an organization," he said in recent remarks, flagging a regulatory blind spot in Canada's lack of comprehensive open-banking rules.