By Michelle Makori (Transcript Report)
The Federal Reserve has quietly convened a series of urgent, closed-door meetings with the most powerful figures in global finance—developments that have largely gone unnoticed amid broader geopolitical headlines.
According to the transcript, these meetings were called by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and U.S. Treasury leadership to address two emerging risks now considered serious enough to threaten the stability of the financial system.
“Two meetings, two threats, both capable of moving through the system and causing chaos.”
AI Emerges as Immediate Financial System Risk
The first threat centres on artificial intelligence—specifically a powerful new model developed by Anthropic known as Mythos.
Originally considered a theoretical concern, the risk has now become immediate.
“A maybe someday problem… but that day is now here.”
Mythos reportedly possesses the ability to identify previously unknown (zero-day) vulnerabilities, link multiple system weaknesses together, and construct working cyber exploits autonomously.
Unlike traditional hacking tools, this represents a shift toward AI-driven threat automation—where attacks could outpace human response capabilities.
Banks Prepare for AI-Powered Attacks
The urgency of the situation is reflected in the level of participants called into the meeting.
Executives from major institutions including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase were present.
These institutions are classified as globally systemically important, meaning a breach in any one could ripple across the entire financial system.
“A successful large-scale cyber attack… could disrupt access to funds, steal funds, or trigger a broader loss of confidence.”
The concern is no longer hypothetical—it is about readiness.
Private Credit: The Hidden Risk Already in the System
The second threat discussed is not emerging—it is already embedded within the financial system: the rapid expansion of private credit markets.
This sector, now worth trillions, operates largely outside traditional regulatory oversight.
The key concern is opacity.
“The exposure isn’t sitting neatly on balance sheets.”
Instead, risk is dispersed across lending funds, structured financial products, and secondary institutional relationships, making it difficult to quantify systemic exposure.
Redemptions Signal Institutional Unease
Recent developments suggest that stress is already appearing within the private credit sector.
Major players including Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, and Blue Owl Capital have begun restricting investor withdrawals.
Redemptions are being capped—typically around 5% per quarter—while requests to withdraw capital are rising.
“This isn’t retail panic. This is institutional money getting uneasy.”
Contagion Risk Under Scrutiny
The Federal Reserve is now asking a critical question: where is the exposure—and how far does it spread?
The concern is that private credit has been repackaged into broader financial structures, interwoven with traditional banking systems, and distributed across multiple counterparties.
If stress intensifies, the risk of contagion becomes increasingly difficult to contain.
Two Threats, No Clear Solution
The key takeaway from these emergency meetings is not just the scale of the risks—but the lack of clear answers.
On one side are AI-driven cyber threats evolving faster than defences. On the other is a shadow credit system with unclear exposure and rising stress.
“Both exposing cracks and weaknesses that could strain or possibly break the financial system.”
Conclusion
These closed-door meetings signal a shift in focus at the highest levels of financial governance.
The risks now being prioritised are not traditional economic cycles but structural vulnerabilities—technological disruption capable of bypassing security frameworks and financial complexity masking systemic exposure.
Both are already in motion, and as the transcript makes clear, neither has an obvious or immediate solution.
“That’s the real story.”