Quantum Computing- A Pathway to Exponential Fintech Adoption?

Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes MD MBA, USA

 

Industry Background

  The global quantum computing market is currently valued at $501.1M and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 56% during the 2020-2030 forecast period.

The public and private sectors have both shown increased interest in this emerging technology, with several governments, tech giants or major banks announcing major investments. In parallel, we have also witnessed a call to action by numerous professional associations and not for profit organizations to develop industry standards for quantum computing and to promote the implementation of digital ethics programs suitable for this highly complex emerging technology.

By 2030 it is expected to have North America and Europe account for 78% of the quantum computing market given that they have already dedicated significant resources early on. However, there are experts who caution that the post-pandemic landscape has changed and other emerging markets can become strong players in the global market.

  The latest report published in April 2020 also highlights certain industries that currently lead the adoption curve: electronics & computing, aerospace, nuclear energy, banking & finance. Due to the stakeholders involved and large utilization rates globally of financial services, the fintech sector has the highest potential to adopt quantum at an exponential rate and promote adoption into the commercial mainstream.

 

Quantum Defined

Quantum computing is an area of computing focused on developing computer technology that is based on principles of quantum theory. This theory of physics explains the behavior of energy and materials at atomic and subatomic levels.It has only recently reached a level of technological maturity that has allowed it to move from the lab to real time deployment in a few industries.

With the recent advances in quantum computing,
this technology can be a catalyst for new scientific breakthroughs
that can have a profound impact on our society.

 

Barriers

 Among all emerging technologies quantum computing has some of the largest barriers to overcome. These barriers are industry agnostic and can be categorized in 3 domains: cost, technology, societal.

 “COST”

Despite great progress to bend the cost curve,
quantum computing remains one of the most expensive to deploy.

Scientists are working tirelessly to reduce the cost and the impact on the environment due to the massive energy utilization associated with quantum computing. In order to make quantum widely available for commercial deployment, the return on investments for businesses has to be attainable and sustainable.

 

” TECHNOLOGY”

As with all emerging and disruptive technologies,
the complexity involved in deploying them is a major challenge.

First there are still many technological enhancements that are required in order for large scale adoption to occur.

Additionally, it is imperative to take into consideration the need for designing proactive educational and training programs to develop the human resource capital required to operate this technology, as well as the need to develop comprehensive digital governance programs that address interoperability and cybersecurity risks.

Last but not least, quantum leaders will bare the responsibility to foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation so that quantum computing can become an integral part of the economy and society.

 

“SOCIETAL”

The marked digital and financial fluency divide that is existing globally is regarded by many as the most significant challenge to overcome. In large parts of the world there are still many without access to either internet, to a computer or to a mobile phone. Among those that have access there are many that have difficulty with fully leveraging the benefits of technology in order to access any of the available financial services and therefore we are facing a major gap between potential and actual use.

Given the global push by international organizations such as
the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and several of the
large global tech companies towards creating solutions that
can bridge this gap we hope to resolve some of these challenges.

 

Opportunities

Fortunately, quantum computing also bears the highest potential for accelerating and exponentially increasing the fintech industry’s global impact over the next decade.

“Customer insight” can be augmented due to the massively increased computational power and hybrid deployment of quantum and artificial intelligence tools.

“Stakeholder satisfaction” can be significantly increased due to the significantly higher computational speed that was unattainable with classic computing methods even over several lifetimes.

By deploying dual quantum computing and blockchain technologies, our “financial auditing”- and “data governanc” capabilities can be markedly enhanced and therefore lead to increased trust within the global fintech ecosystem.

The development of novel “quantum-safe cryptography solutions” that protect financial and banking transactions and ensure safeguarding of financial identities will be essential for a successful quantum-powered economy and societal infrastructure.

 

Future Directions

By deploying quantum at a larger scale within the fintech ecosystem
it is foreseeable that quantum technology can become a major catalyst
for adoption of fintech solutions globally.  

Fintech lies at the crossroads of exponential technologies and has been identified by the World Economic Forum and the World Bank as one of the major drivers of economic recovery.

The WEF Global Future Council on Quantum Computing has recently laid out the future trends and highlighted how this new technology can transform multiple industries. The global impact on economic growth can be optimized by optimizing digital and financial inclusion, as well as fostering the development of an exponential economy where cross- and inter-disciplinary silos are overcome.

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