JPMorgan stops some AI agent purchases made with virtual cards

JPMorgan Chase stops some purchases that AI agents make with virtual cards, because the bank puts those cards in the class of commercial cards. A virtual card is a card number that software makes for one purchase. On October 13, 2026, CEO Jamie Dimon told that the bank will not let external agents into customer accounts. No count of stopped purchases was given.

How it works

Many agents make payments with a virtual card for one purchase only. The card number of the customer is not shown. The fraud systems of banks were made for a person with a card, and they stop a new card number from software.

The proof

No test results or counts were given. From October 13 to October 20, 2026, some US banks, such as Citigroup, also stopped logins by AI services of other firms. The bank gives access to view accounts only to approved providers such as Plaid.

Who says what

Mastercard tells that virtual cards for one purchase are only a temporary step. Its CEO, Michael Miebach, tells that they damage the transaction. Mastercard wants tokenized payments, where a code replaces the card number. No safe payment system made for agents is in wide use.

Insight: Banks may also keep cash in place

Banks give risk as the cause of the stops. Apollo economist Torsten Slok calculates a cost of about $47 billion a year at 3 banks. The cause is agents that move cash to accounts with more interest. The stops are maybe about cash as much as safety, and they give the gate to approved providers and card networks. Teams that make payment agents must know these gates.