JPMorgan Chase and Barclays are among the first firms to tap into the IBM Q early-access commercial quantum computing systems.
Big Blue has signed up 12 partners - companies, academic institutions and national research labs - to its new IBM Q network as it bids to build up a quantum computing ecosystem based on its open source software and developer tools. The partners get access to IBM's expertise and resources, including universal quantum computing power, starting with a 20 qubit IBM Q system.
JPMorgan Chase is onboard as the main financial services network partner, investigating how quantum computing can be used in areas such as trading strategies, portfolio optimisation, asset pricing, and risk analysis. Barclays is also seeking to build its knowledge of general approaches to quantum computing and begin to investigate potential use cases for the finance industry.
IBM claims that quantum computing has great potential in financial services, for example helping to determine the best options for customer portfolios through analysis and modeling of an unlimited number of current event and market scenarios. It could also be used to more effectively identify fraud indicators or massive market shifts and will likely lead to entirely new financial services algorithms and risk models.
Lori Beer, CIO, JPMorgan Chase, says: "Joining the IBM Q Network allows us to bring our technologists alongside IBM’s researchers and leverage cutting-edge quantum systems to learn about how we may be able to apply these technologies in the future."