The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today released its first AI oversight framework for the banking industry, emphasizing potential harm and autonomy rather than technical sophistication. The nonbinding guidance covers external AI agents and recommends safeguards for account access, autonomous transactions, and human oversight. Axios reported on October 22 that Morgan Stanley is blocking external agents, while JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citi are restricting access. The OCC did not link the framework’s release to these developments. Regardless of testing performance, the framework places fully autonomous payment agents in its highest illustrative risk category.