JPMorgan locked agents out. Shopify let them in. You still pay.
15 Oct 2026 · News
One bank closed the door. One retailer opened it. Neither wrote a rule for who pays when an agent gets it wrong.
Open versus closed is the wrong split. JPMorgan and Shopify made opposite product choices in the same week, and both still leave you as the insurer of your agent. Within 12 months a large US bank or card network will ship a sanctioned agent connection with an explicit liability rule, and it will be scoped, not an open door.
On 13 October JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon told analysts the bank will not "allow just any outside agent to come in inside the company," because it is "too risky for clients and for JPMorgan." Customers who hand agents their credentials, he said, should understand "there's a liability transfer." CFO Jeremy Barnum put it more bluntly: if you give an agent your credentials and it does something you did not want, "that's going to be on them." A spokeswoman told CNBC the bank blocks third parties that log in with customer credentials, keeps read-only open-banking sharing, and has no timeline for secure agentic money moves.
The same day, Shopify opened Shop MCP so any agent can search its catalog, build a cart, and complete Shop Pay checkout after the shopper confirms. The Verge noted that buyers must approve each purchase by default, with optional budget guardrails. Shop's own help page is clearer about the downside: you are responsible for purchases you approve, and if you turn on "Allow agent to pay for me" inside a budget, you are responsible "even if the agent misunderstands your instructions or buys something you didn't expect." A dispute "might be unsuccessful."
Five days ago we argued that safety limits belong outside the model. A bank just chose the bluntest limit: no door. A retailer chose per-purchase approval plus an optional budget. Both are limits outside the model. Neither settles who covers a wrong purchase the way a card network settles an unauthorized charge for a human shopper. Two days ago we wrote about agents that will not take no. That is why a bank would rather have no door than a polite one.
Our call: by 15 October 2027 a large US bank or card network will ship a sanctioned agent connection that states, in writing, who pays when the agent errs, with spend caps or per-action approval baked in. Until then, "my agent can pay" means "I insure my agent."
Before an agent can spend for you, find the sentence that says who eats a mistake. If you cannot find it, assume it is you.