Sarah Breeden: Agents of change
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.
Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England, delivered a compelling speech at the ECB Forum on Central Banking 2026, held in Sintra on June 29, 2026. She emphasized the critical importance of discussing artificial intelligence and its impact on financial stability. Breeden acknowledged the rapid pace at which AI is reshaping the finance industry, and highlighted the responsibility of central banks to ensure that this technological advancement does not pose a risk to financial stability.
Since 2019, the Bank of England and other central banks have been actively promoting responsible AI adoption in the financial system. Breeden noted that AI is poised to become a general purpose technology, driving long-term economic growth, and therefore, it is in the best interest of all parties to embrace it while ensuring responsible use.
However, the rapid acceleration in AI capabilities, even compared to just six months prior, presents a double challenge. Not only must central banks enable responsible adoption and manage associated risks, but they must also recognize that AI should fundamentally transform the way these institutions operate.
Breeden used the example of software tasks that AI models can complete, demonstrating how the pace of technological advancement has dramatically increased over time. In 2019, the latest AI models could complete a software task roughly every seven months. By 2024, this rate had accelerated to approximately every four months. More recently, major breakthroughs in AI models for identifying cyber vulnerabilities have suggested that this pace may have further accelerated in the Spring of 2026.
Due to the unprecedented speed of AI development, Breeden emphasized that central banks should be prepared for further technology surprises. She expressed surprise at the accelerated progress this Spring, and urged her colleagues to remain vigilant and adaptable in order to navigate the evolving landscape of AI and its implications for financial stability.
Written by urgent.news from BIS Central Bank Speeches's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
