Apollo Warns of AI-Powered Bank Run by Muse
Apollo sees AI agents like Muse moving savings into higher-rate accounts, which could erode low-cost bank deposits. The debate also touches stablecoin yield and the U.S. debate over banking rules.
Key Takeaways
- Apollo chief economist Torsten Sløk warns that AI agents could move savings from accounts paying 0.1% interest to accounts offering up to 5% yield.
- According to Sløk, that could, on a larger scale, hurt the cheap deposits banks rely on to make loans.
- The debate also touches crypto, because AI, fintech, and stablecoin yield are increasingly putting pressure on the traditional banking model together.
AI agents like Meta’s Muse could, according to Apollo chief economist Torsten Sløk, pull savings out of accounts that pay 0.1% and move them into accounts with yields of up to 5%. He says that, on a larger scale, this could hurt the cheap deposits banks rely on to make loans. That warning is aimed not just at the banking sector, but also at the broader debate over how AI could change money flows in finance.
What Apollo Sees Happening
Sløk lays out a scenario where AI agents do more than answer questions and actively look for the best place to park cash. On a $10,000 (€8,770) balance, an account paying 0.1% interest would earn about $10 (€8.77) per year, while the same amount at 5% would earn about $500 (€438). In his note, he points to 11 fintech and online accounts with rates between 3.3% and 5%, with Adelfi at 5% and SoFi at 4.5%.
The FDIC averages he cites are much lower, at 0.4% for savings accounts and 0.1% for checking accounts. Banks pay savers very little and then lend that money out at higher rates. That spread is a major source of profit.
Muse and the Bank Account
Meta launched Muse on September 8. Plaid, the data company that connects the agent to more than 12,000 U.S. financial institutions and apps, says users can use the agent to view balances, transactions, investments, and mortgage data. That announcement does not say Muse can already move money between accounts.
That is why Sløk is deliberately talking about something that could happen “soon,” not a feature that is already live. His warning assumes broad adoption, with households using AI agents to automatically optimize their cash.
Why This Also Hits Crypto
The debate is also moving toward crypto, because stablecoin yield and higher cash returns are being compared more and more often. Nate Geraci of the ETF Institute said AI and crypto are both putting pressure on the traditional banking model. In Washington, there is also a debate over who should be allowed to reward savers, with stablecoin yield part of the push to revive the Clarity Act.
For European crypto readers, the key point is that this shows how AI, fintech, and crypto are showing up in the same conversation more and more. The Bank for International Settlements has previously warned that AI makes traditional economic signals harder to read, while regulators and banks are also feeling more pressure to set up clear AI governance. BlackRock has also already outlined how AI agents could grow into a new market for digital payments and stores of value.
