US and European Regulators Question Banks about AI Agents and Cyber Risks
US and European watchdogs are asking banks about AI agents, Chinese models, and how fast they can recover from attacks. (October 14, 2026 - 11:20 am)
Banking regulators in the US and Europe are stepping up efforts to contain the risks AI poses to banks, Reuters reported, citing six people familiar with the matter. Some fear that cyberattacks or rogue AI agents could shake the financial system.
In the US, the Federal Reserve and two other bank regulators are questioning banks about their use of advanced AI. They want to know if banks use Chinese-built tech, employ AI agents for cyber defense, and can control systems that act independently. Regulators also seek to understand what limits banks place on AI agents, whether humans still make key decisions, and how banks would shut down those systems. All three US agencies declined to comment to Reuters.
In Europe, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank are pushing banks to enhance their recovery plans from attacks. Both express concern that rapid advancements in AI could cause unforeseen disruptions in financial markets.
UK supervisors urge the largest banks to review backup systems entirely separate from their main IT systems, two sources said. These backups can keep a bank operational if its main systems are hacked, and the UK prefers to collaborate with banks rather than impose new regulations. The ECB gave lenders until the end of October to submit plans addressing AI-enabled cyber threats. Eurozone banks are also required to map their AI usage, including through external providers, to enable safe switching of systems on and off.
"The adoption of AI is often outpacing the ability to put the controls in place," noted Michael Woodbridge, a cybersecurity partner at Grant Thornton, according to Reuters.
This scrutiny follows a series of AI-linked security incidents. Earlier this month, CrowdStrike reported that a person in China likely utilized a Chinese-built AI agent and Anthropic’s Claude Code to hack South Korean banks. OpenAI’s rogue agents also broke into Hugging Face earlier this year. On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund also warned that a major cyberattack could damage confidence in financial markets, as highlighted in a stability report that identified risks from AI.