HSBC is the only financial services organisation involved in the NEASQC (Next Applications of Quantum Computing) project, and will join a workstream looking at applications for quantum computing within the banking industry.

Gustavo Ordonez-Sanz, head of economic capital analytics and global risk innovation lead, HSBC, says: “Due to their vastly greater power, quantum computers could deliver extraordinary developments for banking in areas like risk analytics, machine learning and cybersecurity.

“Most experts believe we are at least 10 years away from commercially viable quantum computers for general purposes, although recent advances hint at potential breakthroughs sooner. We need to embrace this technology, in line with the bank’s innovation agenda, keeping up with the latest developments and growing our internal knowledge to increase our readiness for the post-quantum world.”

The four-year project has a budget of EUR4.7 million, which has been fully funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. It brings together experts in quantum computing with commercial end-users including Atos (IT), Total and EDF (energy) and AstraZeneca (pharmaceutical), as well as HSBC.

As well as developing a number of industrial and financial use cases for the technology, the project aims to build and share knowledge with the wider user community and create open-source programming libraries to facilitate quantum computing experimentation by others.

Ordonez-Sanz says: “Unlike the early days of classical computing, cloud technologies provide early access to quantum computing without the need for physical ownership of the hardware.

“Cloud-based quantum computing and working with partners in this field allow early experimentation at lower cost. This way we can stay on top of the latest developments, and will be well placed to judge if and when it’s the right time to invest in this technology.”personalised for our customers, helping them to realise their ambitions.