The funding risk
Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok warned in a note published in late September that agents seeking to “optimize returns” on customers’ money could drain banks of a significant share of their low-cost deposits. Losing that funding would threaten banks’ ability to lend and could create a risk for the financial system as a whole.
The concern is reported by Axios. It does not depend on agents making a mass move to whichever bank offers the best terms. Banks may face strain simply because their profit-seeking business models are not designed for this level of optimization in customers’ interests. Slok’s analogy is a casino that pays every player their winnings: it would not last long.
Control is a separate problem
Some financial-market experts worry that agents could act unpredictably regardless of the instructions they receive. Earlier this month, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told a group of economists and financial experts in Chicago that there is no certainty agents will act in users’ interests. He said they cannot simply be stopped; the risks associated with them will have to be managed carefully.
I think the more important uncertainty is what “managed” means when an agent can take actions beyond a user’s direct instructions. The warnings identify the possible outcomes—deposit flight and loss of control—but say little about how banks would limit an agent’s access or contain its actions. Until that is clearer, the threat is not just that agents might move money faster than people do; it is that banks may have to absorb optimization they cannot reliably predict.
Daily AI news
Every day we pick what actually matters in AI and explain it plainly — no hype, no filler. Subscribe if you want to follow where the industry is going.
Only what matters — every day
Follow on X