[kahnclusions]

I think this is more for Android phones, and preventing a malicious app on your phone from using the root access to hijack data from your banking app.

[ajsnigrutin]

Well that's the problem.... the next step would be requiring users to use MS Edge, because a malicious version of firefox could capture/modify banking/transaction data. Want to pay bills? Give money to microsoft first.

[kahnclusions]

Are you saying the bank doesn’t have the right to define what kinds of software are permitted to access its systems?

We’re not just talking about the freedom to run software on your own device here, we’re talking about interacting with outside systems. There is an important distinction in context.

[ajsnigrutin]

It's a browser.

As long as it adheres to basic web standards, I believe no, the bank should have no say in what browser you use to access their webpage.

[fulafel]

If this was the reason they'd be blocking access from phones that are not up to date on security updates and are being actively exploited by malware to get root.

But it's the other way around, if you improve your old device by installing a up to date Android on your vendor-abandoned previously vulnerable device, you go from working banking to banned from banking.