Apollo Economist Warns AI Agents May Trigger Bank Deposit Drain

Apollo Global Management's chief economist Torsten Sløk warned on Sunday that AI agents such as Meta's Muse could soon shift funds from bank accounts paying 0.1% to those offering up to 5%.

AI agents function as assistants that can take actions on behalf of users rather than just answering queries. According to Sløk, if implemented at a large scale this shift could deprive banks of the inexpensive deposits they use for lending.

What a 0.1% Bank Account Costs You

A checking account paying 0.1% on a $10,000 balance earns roughly $10 annually. At 5%, the same amount generates about $500 per year.

Sløk's report lists 11 fintech and online accounts that offer interest rates between 3.3% and 5%. Adelfi leads the list at 5%, followed by SoFi at 4.5%. The FDIC national averages cited in the report are 0.4% for savings accounts and 0.1% for checking accounts.

Banks pay minimal interest to depositors and then lend those deposits out at higher rates. This spread represents a key source of profitability for banks.

“If every household used AI agents to optimize the return on their cash balances, banks could lose a large share of the cheap deposits they rely on to make loans, which would be a problem for the entire financial system,” read an excerpt in the report.

Can Muse Move Your Money Yet?

Meta launched Muse on September 8. Plaid, the data firm that connects the agent to more than 12,000 US financial institutions and apps, indicates users can check balances, transactions, investments and mortgage details via Muse.

Plaid's announcement does not specify that Muse can transfer money between accounts. Sløk describes such a sweep as something that “could soon” occur, and his warning is based on the assumption that every household adopts these agents.

Interest in the agent is growing. On Thursday, JPMorgan raised its Meta target and stated that Muse could become the most widely used consumer AI app since ChatGPT.

Market Watchers Say Savers Are Already Moving Cash

Chartered financial analyst Mike Zaccardi says he already holds his own cash in BOXX, an ETF designed to generate returns close to short-term Treasury bills.

“Is an Agentic Bank Run Coming? AI assistants are about to auto-sweep cash from 0.1% checking accounts into 5% yields. If everyone adopts them, banks lose their cheap deposit base… risking a systemic crunch,” wrote Zaccardi.

Nate Geraci, co-founder of the ETF Institute, stated that both AI and crypto are targeting the traditional banking model. He called on politicians to welcome the change instead of opposing it.

Washington is already debating who should pay interest to savers. Stablecoin yield is one of the issues in efforts to revive the Clarity Act crypto bill, which failed a Senate procedural vote on September 15.

Sløk's note does not provide an estimate of how much cash could move or how quickly such a shift might occur.