Royal Bank of Canada CEO Weighs Blocking Meta's Muse From Customer Data

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) CEO Dave McKay is weighing a block on customer-data access for Meta's Muse AI agent, putting bank control over outside account connections in focus.

McKay raised the possibility Oct. 20, but RBC has announced no restriction. “You have to protect that consumer and then we're liable for that as an organization,” McKay said.

Meta introduced Muse on Sept. 8 as an agent that handles tasks across apps. Users can link financial accounts through Plaid, allowing the agent to receive balances, transactions, investment holdings and mortgage information for financial guidance.

Meta's connector rules distinguish reading financial information from taking account actions. The company allows tools that read financial data, but it is not currently approving new tools that transfer funds between accounts or place trades. A connector must get the user's approval each time it performs a sensitive write.

U.S. financial firms have also limited how outside agents reach accounts. JPMorganChase said Oct. 13 that it blocks credential-sharing and screen-scraping routes used by some services to reach money-movement functions where it can. Charles Schwab blocks unauthorized agents and is developing controlled access to account information.

A customer's permission to connect an account is one part of the process. Financial institutions also control outside services' access to their systems and account functions.