Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, writing as chair of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), warned G20 finance ministers and central bank governors on August 31, 2026 that frontier artificial intelligence models could materially alter the speed, scale and economics of cyber risk and destabilize the highly interconnected global financial system.
The warning came in a letter sent ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings on August 31 and September 1, 2026 in Asheville, North Carolina. The FSB, which coordinates the work of national financial authorities and international standard-setting bodies across 24 countries and jurisdictions, also published a press release summarizing the letter.
The Cyber Risk Warning
Bailey wrote that the risk landscape has been further complicated by the emergence of frontier AI models, which he described as showing increasingly sophisticated autonomy and problem-solving abilities, as well as threat capabilities. For the financial system, he said, the most immediate concern is the potential impact of frontier AI on cyber risk.
The letter states that frontier AI may have the ability materially to alter the speed, scale and economics of cyber risk, which could undermine market confidence system-wide, especially given highly concentrated third-party service providers. Bailey cautioned that the risks associated with frontier AI will not respect national borders. Because the global financial system is highly interconnected, he wrote, cyber disruption can spread across jurisdictions through common technology providers, shared infrastructure, and cross-border financial activity. Differences in legal frameworks, cyber capability, resilience and recovery capacity across jurisdictions could have consequences well beyond the jurisdiction where an incident originates and may themselves become a source of vulnerability.
Bailey wrote that firms and authorities should be prepared for a threat environment characterized by a higher volume of vulnerabilities and a faster pace of patching, noting that those dynamics could create operational and resilience challenges if change, testing and recovery processes cannot adapt safely. Frontier AI also offers significant opportunities to strengthen cyber defence, he said, but recent developments highlight the importance of ensuring that advances in capability are matched by resilience and preparedness.
Calls for Protocols and Resilience
The letter says financial institutions, financial market infrastructures, and technology providers will need to strengthen vulnerability management, response and recovery capabilities, and prepare for more severe scenarios involving simultaneous disruption across multiple firms or shared technology dependencies. Bailey underlined the importance of robust response and recovery capabilities, including the ability to restore critical systems and data from “bare metal” following a significant cyber incident, as well as resilience among critical third-party technology providers and other common service providers on which the financial system depends.
Bailey also wrote that recent developments have highlighted that many jurisdictions do not have the protocols in place to manage the development, release, and deployment of advanced frontier AI models, heightening risks for the financial sector and beyond. Taking appropriate steps to support safe and responsible model release and deployment on a global basis should be a priority, he said, and would benefit all sectors of the economy, including by supporting financial stability and economic growth.
The FSB said it is exploring particular issues associated with the safe deployment of frontier models for cyber defence by financial services firms, as well as ways to enhance capabilities to respond to and recover from significant operational disruptions, while recognizing that frontier AI issues are cross-sectoral and involve government authorities more broadly.
Broader Market Vulnerabilities
The AI warning sits within a wider assessment of financial stability risks. Bailey wrote that markets remain vulnerable to a potentially disorderly correction that could spread across borders, given fragilities in sovereign debt markets, vulnerabilities in private credit, and stretched asset valuations, particularly AI-related investments. He pointed to the ongoing Middle East conflict, which he said has exacerbated energy-driven inflationary pressures, and noted that market interest rates have risen since the start of the conflict while valuations of risky assets remain elevated.
The letter also identifies an increase in the use of leverage in equity markets, including greater use of leveraged exchange-traded funds and correlated momentum-driven investment strategies, including by retail investors. Bailey wrote that leverage is interacting with high valuations and market concentration — in particular the increasing cross-investment between AI companies and hyperscalers — in a way that could amplify a future market correction. A large shock or combination of shocks could concurrently trigger multiple vulnerabilities, he warned.
The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors are meeting in Asheville on August 31 and September 1, 2026.