Agents of change
By
Sarah Breeden
PDF (8 Pages)
Type
Speech
Subtype
Central banker's speech
Date delivered
30 July 2026
Country
United Kingdom
Topics
Innovation and fintech
Speech by Ms Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability of the Bank of England, at the ECB Forum on Central Banking 2026 "Shaping Europe's future: innovation, growth and stability", Sintra, 29 June 2026.
It's a privilege to be here to discuss AI and financial stability. It's hard to imagine a more timely or important issue. AI is reshaping finance at speed. And it's on us to ensure that the next technology surprise does not become a test of financial stability.
For some years, central banks, including the Bank of England, have worked to promote responsible AI adoption in the financial system. And since AI looks likely to be the next 'general purpose technology' and a key source of long-term economic growth, it's in all our interests to do so.
But the apparent acceleration in AI capabilities, even compared with six months ago, creates a double challenge: not only enabling responsible adoption and managing risks, but also recognising that AI should transform how central banks do that job. We need to think as hard about the latter as the former.
How the technology is evolving
In 2019, the length of software task the latest AI models could complete doubled roughly every seven months. In 2024, that had sped up to around four months. Major advances this Spring in models for identifying cyber vulnerabilities suggest it may now be faster still.
So an already exponential increase in capability appears to be accelerating. We were surprised this Spring, and we should be prepared for further technology surprises.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of the BIS.
PDF (8 Pages)
Authors
Sarah Breeden
Executive Sponsor Climate Change and Executive Director, UK Deposit Takers Supervision