AI agents could drain cheap bank deposits, Apollo's Torsten Slok warns
Summary
Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok warned that AI agents could move household cash from low-yield checking accounts to higher-yield alternatives, weakening banks’ cheap deposit base and potentially constraining lending. These agents can monitor balances, compare rates and shift money around bill payments. The article says crypto payment infrastructure is developing alongside agentic finance: Coinbase’s x402 protocol enables agents to pay for online services in stablecoins and has reportedly processed roughly 188 million to 205 million transactions. Major technology, payments and crypto firms have joined the x402 Foundation, now governed by the Linux Foundation.
