Banks Eye Quantum Innovations as Big Tech Chases AI Talent

While headlines trumpet the nine-figure paydays big tech firms are laying out for artificial intelligence (AI) talent, a different resource war is underway in the board rooms of financial institutions (FIs).

One centered on an entirely different, if equally leading edge, technology. Quantum computing.

As Monday (July 21) news from JPMorgan Chase, which involved hiring the former head of quantum at State Street, reveals, there is a focus among global financial institutions on quantum capabilities.

At the same time, researchers announced a scientific breakthrough in quantum teleportation of light-based information, a milestone that could pave the way for secure quantum communications, which represents an area of growing relevance for cross-border payments and digital settlement networks.

While quantum computing remains in the early stages of commercialization, Wall Street’s biggest players are beginning to treat it less as a moonshot and more as a medium-term investment strategy. One that could hold implications for risk modeling, portfolio optimization, fraud detection and money movement orchestration.

Read more: What the C-Suite Needs to Know About Big Tech’s Quantum Push

Use Cases Across Finance

Three key developments have pushed financial institutions to move beyond research and into operational pilots. First, quantum hardware is improving, with firms like IBM delivering machines with 50+ physical qubits and early versions of error mitigation. Second, cloud access to quantum systems has lowered entry barriers. Finally, quantum software frameworks are enabling institutions to prototype applications without full in-house quantum stacks.

Amazon , for example unveiled its first quantum computing chip, Ocelot , this spring, that uses scalable architecture to reduce the costs of implementing quantum error correction by up to 90%; while in mid-February, Microsoft unveiled a new state of matter besides solid, liquid or gas, bringing additional excitement to quantum computing.

“There’s an inflection point happening in quantum computing,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said at a June conference in Paris. “It is clear now we’re within reach of being able to apply quantum classical computing in areas that can solve some interesting problems in the coming years.”

Perhaps more importantly, classical systems are approaching limits in some core financial tasks. Financial institutions depend heavily on stochastic simulations for pricing options, measuring value at risk, and forecasting liquidity needs. Quantum algorithms promise exponential speedups in these areas, especially where uncertainty is multidimensional.

While limited by hardware constraints today, future iterations are expected to reshape high-frequency risk analysis.

At the same time, financial fraud increasingly involves dynamic, adaptive patterns across vast transaction networks. Quantum machine learning may provide an edge by mapping data into complex feature spaces that reveal anomalies undetectable by classical models.

Read also: How the Math Powering Payments Adds Up in the Quantum Era

Quantum as Infrastructure

For the finance sector, quantum computing is not just a new tool — it’s potentially a new layer of financial infrastructure. Still, most efforts are focused on readiness, rather than near-term rollout. The timeline for widespread adoption is still five to 10 years, but the first-mover advantages — especially in derivatives pricing, automated risk management, and infrastructure security — are significant.

Yet some banks are pushing ahead regardless. PYMNTS covered earlier this year how BMO Financial Group , one of the largest banks in North America with $1.4 trillion in total assets, is getting ready to reap the benefits of quantum computing by the end of the year.

In other developments of the technology across financial services, quantum communications — particularly quantum key distribution (QKD) — are being tested as the next evolution in secure transaction infrastructure. With the potential for unbreakable encryption and teleportation of quantum states across networks, banks are evaluating quantum networking as a future layer of settlement rails.

The breakthrough in teleporting light-based quantum information earlier this week could accelerate those efforts.

The combination of quantum-enhanced models, real-time risk simulation, and secure quantum communications could enable faster capital flows, dynamic collateral management, and real-time regulatory reporting.

Central banks are watching closely. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has participated in exploratory research on quantum finance, while the Bank of Canada is testing quantum algorithms for forecasting economic stress scenarios.

Ultimately, the institutions deploying quantum today won’t necessarily see commercial ROI next year, but they might just define the standards for the quantum economy of the 2030s.