Quantum Technology in Financial Services
Nearly 80% of the 50 large banks that Evident tracks work on quantum technology. In 2025, HSBC and IBM ran an offline bond-trading backtest on an IBM quantum processor. JPMorganChase and Quantinuum produced certified random numbers on a 56-qubit machine the same year. Vanguard and IBM ran a portfolio problem on 109 qubits. HSBC’s authors claim no quantum advantage, and in the Vanguard study a classical solver still found the best portfolio.
On published resource estimates, derivative pricing requires 4,700 to 8,000 logical qubits. It also requires logical clock rates about a thousand times higher than error-corrected machines are projected to reach. Advantage in finance is further away than in chemistry, and less certain. Banks invest now to build skills, to track the signals that would shorten that timeline, and to prepare for the quantum threat to their cryptography. In this course, we cover what quantum computing, sensing and networking can do for banks, insurers and payment firms, how to judge each claim, and what to prepare now.
Course Outline
Module 1. Judging Quantum Claims (45 minutes)
Quantum computing, sensing and networking mature at different speeds, and each needs its own tests. We separate results demonstrated on hardware from company announcements and from resource estimates. We also separate the physical qubits in current machines from the logical, error-corrected qubits required for useful computation. You learn to ask which classical method a result was compared with, and which roadmap dates are commitments and which are targets. We test each question on a recent banking result, HSBC and IBM’s 2025 bond-trading study.
Module 2. Quantum Computing in Financial Services (75 minutes)
We work through the use cases banks fund today. Derivative pricing and risk calculations use amplitude estimation, which offers a quadratic speedup over Monte Carlo simulation. Portfolio optimization uses QAOA, annealing and interior-point methods, and no study has shown an advantage over strong classical solvers. We cover machine learning on trading and credit data. We also cover the April 2026 proof of an exponential memory advantage for some tasks on streamed data, which no one has yet costed at commercial scale. We explain how classical Monte Carlo on GPU clusters competes with a quadratic speedup, and what the published resource estimates require. For insurers, we cover capital modelling and catastrophe risk, which use the same algorithms as pricing.
Module 3. Networking, Randomness and Sensing (45 minutes)
We cover the quantum key distribution pilots banks have run, from JPMorganChase’s network between two data centers to HSBC’s protected trading scenario over 63 km of fiber. We explain why NSA does not recommend QKD for national security systems, and why banks that use it pair it with post-quantum cryptography. We cover certified randomness and quantum random number generators, and how to validate their output. We also explain why quantum sensing has a small role in finance today, including for the clock synchronization rules that trading firms follow.
Module 4. What Banks and Insurers Are Doing (30 minutes)
We review named programs and what each result shows: HSBC and IBM, JPMorganChase and Quantinuum, Vanguard and IBM, Crédit Agricole with Pasqal, BBVA and Wells Fargo. We cover Goldman Sachs’s published resource estimates and the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s QKD sandbox with four banks. For each program, you learn whether it reports a hardware result, an announcement or an estimate.
Module 5. Preparing Now (45 minutes)
We start with post-quantum migration, using the inventory and governance steps the G7 Cyber Expert Group set out for financial firms. We then show you how to size a quantum team to the evidence, track the signals that would change the timeline, and benchmark every experiment against the strongest classical method. We also cover how quantum progress in chemistry and materials affects the companies you lend to, insure and invest in. In a working exercise, you draft a one-page quantum brief for your board.
Prerequisites
None.
Who this course is for
Executives, program managers, strategy and innovation leads, CISOs, quantitative analysts and data scientists at banks, insurers, asset managers and payment firms. Also useful for risk and audit teams asked to assess a quantum program, and for consultants who advise financial institutions.
What you’ll be able to do afterward
- Explain what quantum computing, sensing and networking can and cannot do for financial services today
- Tell a hardware result from a company announcement or a resource estimate, and physical qubits from logical ones
- Judge a quantum finance claim against the classical method it was compared with
- Name the signals that would bring quantum advantage in finance closer
- Set up a lean quantum team with a watch list, pilot criteria and a budget sized to the evidence
- Connect quantum investment to the post-quantum migration your regulators expect
What you leave with
When you finish, we email you the course handbook, a PDF of every slide with notes that explain it in full. It includes a table of the use cases covered, each labelled as demonstrated, announced or estimated, with its sources. We also include a PDF copy of Quantum Systems Integration. The handbook is yours to keep.
Enrollment includes 180 days of access to the online on-demand course. Where that course is not yet published, the 180 days start on the day it is.
Where this course fits
You can take this course on its own. No technical background is assumed. For the security side, take Quantum-Safe Financial Services, Quantum-Safe Insurance or Quantum-Safe Payments. If capital allocation is part of your role, add Quantum Technology for Investors. Data teams can continue with Evaluating Quantum AI and Machine Learning.
Why we teach this
The material is based on Quantum Systems Integration, the reference text on quantum computing, networking, and sensing written by the course author. It also draws on faculty who work with quantum engineering and integration teams, and on the published resource estimates for each use case. We label every result in the course as demonstrated on hardware, announced by a company or estimated, so you can see how far each one has progressed.
Certificate of Completion
Upon completion, you receive a Quantum Academy certificate of completion. It confirms that you completed the course and is separate from Quantum Academy’s professional certifications.
About this program
Quantum Academy credentials are private professional credentials issued by Quantum Academy, a trade name of Post-Quantum Institute. They are not government-issued licenses, accredited degrees, or academic credit, and earning one does not guarantee employment, promotion, regulatory approval, or any other specific outcome.
Quantum Academy programs are educational and informational only, and are not legal, compliance, or engineering advice.
