OpenAI seeks bank access for ChatGPT

OpenAI on May 15 released a preview personal-finance feature in ChatGPT that lets U.S. Pro users connect bank, credit-card and investment accounts through Plaid, the company said. The launch adds a spending dashboard and account-linked answers for questions such as whether recent spending has changed or how to prepare to buy a house, according to OpenAI. The feature is available on web and iOS, and OpenAI said it is starting with a smaller group of users before expanding further. More than 200 million people come to ChatGPT each month for budgeting, investment and goal-planning questions, OpenAI said in its product post. The company said recent advances in GPT-5.5 made the model stronger at reasoning through context-dependent finance questions, linking the new product directly to its April 23 rollout of GPT-5.5. ### Which users can connect accounts now, and through whom? (openai.com) U.S. ChatGPT Pro subscribers can connect accounts now through Plaid, OpenAI said, with support for more than 12,000 financial institutions. TechCrunch reported the list includes Schwab, Fidelity, Chase, Robinhood, American Express and Capital One. The Verge reported the connected-account experience includes a dashboard showing spending history and active subscriptions, and lets users ask for help with decisions such as buying a house or comparing credit cards. (openai.com) OpenAI said users remain in control of their data and can start from the Finances tab or by typing “@Finances, connect my accounts.” ### What does OpenAI say happens to the data? OpenAI said ChatGPT syncs and categorizes account data after a user authenticates, then shows portfolio performance, spending, subscriptions and upcoming payments in one dashboard. The company also said users can add context such as a mortgage, savings goal or planned purchase to shape the answers they receive. TechCrunch reported users can remove connected services in Settings and that synced financial data is deleted from ChatGPT within 30 days after disconnection. (theverge.com) The same report said users can review and delete financial “memories” from the Finances page. ### Why is this arriving now? April 23 marked OpenAI’s release of GPT-5.5, which the company described as its “smartest and most intuitive” model and said was designed for more complex work across tools. (openai.com) In the GPT-5.5 announcement, OpenAI said the model performed better than GPT-5.4 on several internal and external benchmarks while matching GPT-5.4 per-token latency in real-world serving. (techcrunch.com) May 15 also brought OpenAI’s statement that GPT-5.5 is better suited to finance questions because those questions depend on personal context and tradeoffs. TechCrunch reported OpenAI worked with finance experts to build a benchmark for improving personal-finance answers. ### What rules govern this kind of account access in the United States? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in October 2024 finalized its Personal Financial Data Rights rule, saying consumers should be able to direct providers to share their financial data with another provider for free. (openai.com) The CFPB said the rule was meant to give consumers greater rights, privacy and security over personal financial data. (openai.com) October 29, 2025 changed that timetable. The CFPB says a federal court in Kentucky stayed the rule’s compliance dates in Forcht Bank v. CFPB, and the bureau said on August 22, 2025 that it had opened a reconsideration process for possible amendments. ### What comes next for the product? (consumerfinance.gov) OpenAI said the preview is limited to a smaller U.S. Pro cohort while the company learns from early use and “expand[s] thoughtfully.” The company said it plans to bring the feature to Plus after that, with the goal of broader availability later. Intuit support is coming soon, OpenAI said, which TechCrunch reported could extend the product to tax-related analyses such as the effect of a stock sale or the odds of credit-card approval. (consumerfinance.gov) The next visible milestone for users is the continued rollout on ChatGPT web and iOS as OpenAI collects feedback from the initial U.S. Pro launch. (openai.com)