Dutch Central Bank keeps code orange warning for financial stability and urges European action on cyber resilience and buffers

In remarks to the House of Representatives during the annual public discussion on macroeconomic risks, Dutch Central Bank executive board member Olaf Sleijpen said the bank's code orange warning for Dutch financial stability remains in place. Drawing on the Financial Stability Overview, he identified geopolitical tensions, a heightened cyber threat and a greater risk of financial market price corrections as the main near term risks, with cyber risk now the biggest concern because frontier artificial intelligence models can find and exploit vulnerabilities within minutes and enable more sophisticated attacks. He said financial institutions should strengthen digital resilience by improving visibility of vulnerabilities, using scenario analysis and testing, and expanding patching, fallback and recovery capacity. For policymakers, he called for coordinated European action on frontier artificial intelligence, deeper European capital markets and a consistent macroprudential framework that preserves bank capital buffers even if parts of the framework are simplified. Domestically, he argued that the Netherlands should prioritise sustainable public finances rather than relying on the European Union's 3 percent deficit norm alone, as a weakening fiscal position reduces shock absorption capacity and rising public debt can also constrain central banks' ability to fight inflation if debt sustainability concerns unsettle markets.