G7 finance leaders and central bank governors have agreed to conduct tabletop exercises simulating AI-driven cyberattacks against the financial sector.
The agreement was reached in Bangkok on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund annual gatherings, according to The News.
The exercises will test how governments and financial institutions respond to attacks powered by frontier artificial intelligence.
Testing Safeguards and Cross-Border Coordination
The simulations are designed to test existing safeguards, expose weaknesses in response procedures and improve coordination across borders.
A Japanese finance ministry official who attended the meeting said the scenarios could also involve private financial institutions and major banks, depending on the case.
Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama described the initiative as having received ministerial approval after discussions among G7 finance deputies.
Katayama said the deputies had been discussing the idea of tabletop exercises on frontier AI as policymakers increasingly seek to coordinate responses to growing cyber security risks.
The planned scenarios will examine how authorities manage an AI-enabled attack and whether financial institutions can maintain or restore critical operations.
According to the Japanese finance ministry official cited by The News, the exercises are intended to evaluate end-to-end recovery readiness where private-sector participation is included.
The initiative follows an IMF warning that AI-driven cyberattacks targeting critical financial services could undermine confidence in the financial sector.
The Bank of England has also warned that AI-enabled attacks represent a growing threat to financial stability.
G7 finance ministries and central banks are expected to use the exercise findings to test safety protocols, revise response manuals and identify gaps in cross-border financial cybersecurity.
GuruFocus separately reported that G7 finance leaders had agreed to conduct similar tabletop exercises, while attributing the announcement to Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki.
