Quantum Computing For Banking — Value Now, or in the Future?
- BMO announces that it's making the leap to quantum computing
- Quantum computing has been recognized as one of banking's ten most important tech trends
- "We are in quantum because we do believe that it holds transformational potential."
According to a recent post at PYMNTS.com, BMO Financial Group, one of the largest banks in North America, is preparing to harness the power of quantum computing by the end of 2025.
BMO — the parent of BMO Capital and BMO Wealth Management — joined the IBM Quantum Network to gain access to its advanced quantum infrastructure, enabling the bank to develop and deploy quantum-powered solutions across its operations.
We noted in an earlier blog post that Forbes included quantum computing on their list of "The 10 Most Important Banking And Financial Technology Trends That Will Shape 2025."
In our post, we quoted a forward-looking article from cnet.com:
Quantum computers, running on purpose-built quantum chips, are incredibly delicate and must be kept at amazingly low temperatures to work properly. They're massive and not practical for everyday use yet. Still, companies like Intel, Google, IBM, Amazon and Microsoft are heavily invested in quantum computing, and the race is on to make it viable. While most companies don't have the funds or specialized teams to support their own quantum computers, cloud-based quantum computing services like Amazon Braket and Google's Quantum AI could be options.
"Transformational Potential"
Kristin Milchanowski, BMO's Chief AI and Data Officer, elaborated on their embrace of quantum computing:
"We are in quantum because we do believe that it holds transformational potential," Milchanowski said in an interview with PYMNTS. "It's really about preparedness and … getting the muscle memory in place so that we can have first-mover advantage."
We would be remiss not to share Ms. Milchanowski's further insights into "unleashing digital transformation":
- Become a steward of understanding innovation, what great companies do to innovate and what are their key tenets. It’s important to adopt an innovative mindset.
- Eliminate an outdated business process at least once a month, because then it’s easier to implement new technology.
- Be bold in an era of exponential technological change.
Value Now or Future?
We are seeing more interest in the power of harnessing quantum computing. However, can banks really add value now, or is this a technology pegged for future value? As noted in the article, "companies like Intel, Google, IBM, Amazon and Microsoft are heavily invested in quantum computing, and the race is on to make it viable."
Unfortunately, it will be difficult for most financial institutions to derive tangible value from quantum computing -- as its requirements and expertise does not align with most budgets and internal resources at most financial institutions. However, investments in AI technologies running on GPUs has proven to create value and efficiencies. For instance, AI for check processing has streamlined and automated the payment channel, achieving over 99% accuracy and read rates.
Financial institutions considering quantum computing will be hard press to find use cases where the investment would make sense for today's banking environment. However, the future of banking may possibly be powered by quantum computing -- we will just have to take a more cautious wait-and-see approach.