I want to give AI agents access to my bank account

Citigroup and Bank of America are the latest American financial institutions to restrict AI agents’ access to customers’ accounts:

Citi says it does not permit “third-party AI agents or assistants to log into a customer’s account or transact directly within our digital banking platforms” […] The bank says customers can still authorise limited, read-only access to account data with certain open-banking providers.

I would like very much to give an AI agent access to mine.

Not permission to move money, of course. But I do want an agent to analyze my transactions, identify patterns and outliers, and prepare a monthly financial audit for me. Today’s local AI models are more than capable of this. There is no reason my personal financial data needs to leave my computer.

In March, I wrote about Canada’s plans for an open banking system. Seven months later, the core data-sharing provisions are not yet in place. Annoyingly, the proposed system seems to be designed around granting access to accredited third parties rather than allowing consumers to directly access their own data through an API. From the Consumer-Driven Banking Act:

The purpose of this Act is to establish a framework within which consumers, including businesses, can direct that their data be shared among participating entities of their choice

I want to give software running on my own computer read-only access to my bank accounts. Open banking should make that possible.