The agreement followed a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors held on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund's annual gathering in Bangkok. Katayama said G7 finance deputies had discussed the idea of tabletop exercises involving frontier AI, with the proposal subsequently approved at the ministerial level [1].
The plan will feature simulations developed by G7 finance authorities to test how governments and financial regulators respond to cyberattacks powered by advanced AI systems [2]. A Japanese finance ministry official who attended the leaders' meeting told reporters on Oct. 15 that the exercises will test how financial authorities respond to AI-driven cyberattacks.
IMF Cites Risk to Confidence and Markets
The agreement came after the IMF warned this week that a major AI-enabled cyberattack on financial institutions or critical services could undermine confidence, which would then ripple through global markets. In an Oct. 13 blog post, the IMF stated that frontier AI models could accelerate both attacks and defenses, increasing the importance of cyber resilience, incident reporting, crisis preparedness and oversight of critical third-party providers.
The IMF reported that in the reported cyberattack cases so far this year, software providers had almost no time to patch vulnerabilities before attackers exploited them, compared with close to 300 days in 2021. That compression underscores the speed at which AI-enabled tools can identify and leverage weaknesses in software.
A separate IMF blog post published Oct. 15 said AI adds urgency by accelerating vulnerability discovery, exploitation and attack, compressing the attack-defense cycle to machine speed. The post stated that a major attack affecting payments, trading or deposit access could cause immediate losses and undermine confidence in the financial system.
The IMF recommended strengthening cyber defense capabilities, including testing financial institutions' resilience.
Bank of England Says Recovery Planning Needed
Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden said Thursday that the institution is working with banks to help prepare to recover from AI-empowered cyber breaches. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Institute of International Finance in Bangkok, Breeden said AI poses a systemic risk to financial systems through technological advancement.
Breeden said it is no longer enough for financial bodies to assume cyberattacks will not get through, and that recovery options are required if institutions are hit. She described cyber as the thing that keeps her up at night and said she worries most about waking up to find a systemically important bank or core infrastructure paralyzed.
Her comments align with the IMF's emphasis on crisis preparedness and incident reporting. The Bank of England's work with banks on recovery planning reflects a shift from prevention alone toward resilience and continuity planning in the event of a successful breach.
Oversight of Third-Party Providers Draws Attention
The IMF blog posts referenced oversight of critical third-party providers as a component of cyber resilience. That focus reflects concerns that attackers may target software suppliers or other outside vendors to reach financial institutions indirectly.
Reported cases this year indicated attackers exploited vulnerabilities faster than providers could patch them, according to the IMF. The IMF's Oct. 15 post described a compressed attack-defense cycle operating at machine speed. The Bank of England said it is working with banks on recovery planning rather than assuming breaches will be prevented.
Next Steps Remain to Be Defined
The exercises would involve G7 finance ministries and central banks and could extend to private financial institutions, according to the Japanese finance ministry official. No timetable, format or list of participating institutions for the exercises was announced in the statements reviewed.
The agreement was announced during the IMF's annual gathering in Bangkok, where finance ministers and central bank governors met. The plan will feature simulations developed by G7 finance authorities to test how they can respond to AI-driven cyberattacks [2].
Reuters contributed to the report.
References
- G7 Plans Exercises to Counter AI Cyber Attacks - StratNews Global. https://stratnewsglobal.com/technology/g7-plans-exercises-to-counter-ai-cyber-attacks/
- G7 to launch exercises to guard against AI cyber attacks. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/g7-launch-exercises-guard-against-ai-cyber-attacks-2026-10-16/
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