Bank of England and G7 turn to AI cyber risk

Cyber risk moves to the front

Sarah Breeden, deputy governor of the Bank of England (BoE), said at the Institute of International Finance annual meeting in Bangkok that the chief concern is either hackers or hostile nations weaponizing advanced AI models to exploit weaknesses in banks' systems.

Planning for the breach

Breeden also said we need to be thinking about "bare metal recovery options" for core services, and about that end to end across the financial system. That moves the question from keeping attackers out to how a core service comes back.

G7 agreed to hold exercises

At the same time, finance leaders of the G7 agreed to hold tabletop exercises to guard against AI cyber attacks, Japanese finance minister Satsuki Katayama said. A Japanese finance ministry official said the exercises could include private financial institutions depending on the nature of the simulations, and that the results will be used to revise manuals.

A quieter deposit question

Away from cyber risk, U.S. Bancorp CEO Gunjan Kedia was asked whether personal AI agents could automatically move cash among banks to seek better rates, and said the bank has not encountered third-party AI cash-sorting agents. Kedia added that "the logistics of doing something like this are very complicated," and that the bank does not expect a near-term impact.