Quantum computing in financial services has the potential to transform how institutions approach complex problems involving risk, security, optimization, and data analysis. While universal quantum computing remains an emerging technology, financial institutions can already begin exploring applications that could provide significant advantages as the technology matures.
From machine learning and target marketing to risk management and cryptography, quantum computing could dramatically expand organizations’ ability to process complex calculations and identify solutions. At the same time, its potential to undermine existing encryption creates an urgent data-security challenge. Organizations must prepare not only to take advantage of quantum computing but also to protect sensitive information that could remain valuable when more powerful quantum systems become available.
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Data for today’s episode is provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s Report: Quantum Changes Everything: Protect Your Data Now
Applying Quantum Computing to Real-World Problems:
- Quantum computers should be able to solve problems with financial services.
- Quantum computers should be able to solve problems with target marketing.
- Quantum computers should be able to solve problems with optimization calculations.
- Quantum computers should be able to solve problems with machine learning.
- Quantum computers should be able to solve problems with risk management.
- Quantum computers should be able to solve problems with cryptography.
About Report
New Mercator research, Quantum Changes Everything: Protect Your Data Now, provides an in-depth status and review of quantum computing today, identifies key opportunities for its utilization in financial services, takes a deep dive into the challenges it represents to our data security, and makes recommendations both for its adoption and how to make plans to protect your data and that of your customers.
The primary finding of this research is that protecting your data against quantum should start today if that transmitted data will still be valuable in the next five years. Adversaries are recording data now for future decryption and exploitation. An additional finding is that quantum computing is already available through the cloud for optimization problems and new estimates suggest that universal quantum computing may be available in just 5 to 10 years, not 20 as is commonly thought. Financial institutions interested in having a first-mover advantage should start to develop the business and IT resources required for that now. This includes the acumen to select the appropriate business problems that will most differentiate the company and will benefit the most from quantum computing and then finding the talent required to develop those programs, remembering that quantum does not use traditional computing skills.
This research explains the different forms of quantum, including universal quantum computing, quantum annealing solutions that have been applied to optimization problems for several years, and quantum key distribution that can protect our data in motion.
“This research identifies several areas that all companies should be focusing on now to protect their data and the data of their customers from adversaries,” commented Tim Sloane, Vice President of Payments Innovation and Director of the Emerging Technology Services Practice at Mercator Advisory Group. “The research also identifies several areas where quantum computing can deliver a competitive edge for those prepared to implement it, which is important, however, the critical issue for today is to protect all of your long-tail data.”
