Japanese banks MUFG and Mizuho are to join a new IBM Q Hub at Keio University to experiment with future applications for quantum computing in the financial sector.
The Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University hosts one of six global IBM Q Hubs, including IBM Research, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Oxford, the University of Melbourne, and North Carolina State University.
Participants in the hub - IBM's first in South East Asia - will have access to the firm's Q's commercial 20 qubit system via the cloud, followed by a 50-qubit system which will be made available in the next generation IBM Q systems.
IBM says it will offer APIs, quantum software tools, libraries and applications to hub institutions and member companies, as well as technical expertise on new quantum technology and industrial applications.
Hironori Kamezawa, group CIO at MUFG says: "Recent progress in quantum computing has been remarkable, and has tremendous potential for applications in a wide range of financial business processes, including asset management and risk calculation. We consider the IBM Q Hub at Keio University a great step toward the practical use of quantum computers and joint IT."