AI assistants could instigate a bank run by shifting household funds from low-yield checking accounts to higher-yield options, Slok cautions.
By Omkar Godbole|Edited by Stephen AlpherUpdated Sep 28, 2026, 9:07 a.m. EDTPublished Sep 28, 2026, 9:06 a.m. EDT2 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on AI agents might drain affordable bank deposits, warns Apollo's Slok. ((Steve A Johnson/Unsplash)SummaryShow- Apollo's Chief Economist, Torsten Slok, warns that AI assistants may cause a gradual bank run by automatically relocating household cash from low-interest checking accounts to higher-yielding options.
- The widespread adoption of these agents could deplete the inexpensive deposits that banks depend on for lending, potentially jeopardizing the financial system.
- Crypto payment systems are already facilitating agentic finance.
According to Apollo’s Chief Economist Torsten Slok, AI financial assistants could trigger a gradual bank run by reallocating household funds from low-interest checking accounts to those offering higher returns.
Slok highlighted that personal AI agents like Meta's Muse could soon automate the process of moving cash into high-interest accounts, bypassing the meager 0.1% average returns on traditional checking accounts.
Torsten Slok is a prominent investment economist on Wall Street and a partner at Apollo Global, a private equity firm managing approximately $1 trillion in assets.
He pointed out that companies such as Revolut, SoFi, Varo, LendingClub, and Wealthfront are currently offering interest rates ranging from 3.3% to 5% on deposits, which translates to about $100 in annual interest on a $10,000 balance compared to just $10 from checking accounts.
Slok argues that if households increasingly use AI for investment decisions, it could jeopardize banks, which rely on these low-cost deposits to generate credit, thereby posing a risk to the overall financial system.
"If every household employed AI agents to maximize their cash returns, banks could lose a significant portion of the cheap deposits they need for lending, which would be problematic for the entire financial system," he cautioned.
Agentic finance refers to AI that actively manages funds rather than merely providing answers. These agents can monitor account balances in real time, evaluate returns across various institutions, and shift idle cash into higher-yield accounts while ensuring funds are available for bills.
Market estimates for agentic AI vary widely. Mordor Intelligence anticipates the market for AI in financial services will reach $7.78 billion in 2026, growing to $43.52 billion by 2031, while MarketsandMarkets estimates the narrower segment of AI agents will be valued at around $845 million by 2025.
Crypto technologies are already laying the groundwork for the necessary payment systems. The x402 protocol by Coinbase, the leading standard for agentic payments, enables AI agents to make payments for online services in stablecoins almost instantly, without needing an account, card, or human approval.
As of now, the x402 Protocol has reportedly processed between 188 million and over 205 million transactions cumulatively, with around 69,000 active agents.
Notable companies like Cloudflare, Google, Visa, Mastercard, AWS, Circle, and Stripe are part of the x402 Foundation, which is now overseen by the Linux Foundation.
Nate Geraci, co-founder of the ETF Institute, has previously remarked that both AI and cryptocurrency are challenging traditional banking models.
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