Apollo chief economist warns AI agents could trigger bank runs

Imagine an AI assistant that watches your checking account earn 0.1% interest, shrugs its digital shoulders, and moves your money to a fintech platform paying 5.0%. Now imagine millions of these assistants doing it simultaneously, without anyone breaking a sweat or standing in line at a bank branch. That’s the scenario keeping Torsten Sløk up at night. The Partner and Chief Economist at Apollo Global Management published a note on September 27 titled “Is an Agentic Bank Run Coming?” and the answer he leans toward is an uncomfortable “maybe.” The math that makes bankers nervous Sløk’s analysis starts with a number that looks almost quaint: the FDIC national average interest rate on checking accounts is 0.1%. A household sitting on $10,000 in a traditional checking account earns roughly $10 per year. Fintech platforms, meanwhile, are offering rates between 3.3% and 5.0%. Adelfi advertises 5.0%, SoFi offers 4.5%, and LendingClub’s LevelUp product sits at 4.2%. That same $10,000 balance parked at Adelfi would generate approximately $500 annually. The gap between 0.1% and 5.0% has existed for a while. Consumers have been slowly migrating deposits to higher-yield alternatives for years. ...