Latest news with #DaraghMorrissey
Finextra
4 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
Money20/20: Is the future quantum-ready?
While AI is a buzzword in the fintech space, quantum is being heard more and more frequently in the sector. But what will it accomplish, and more importantly, is the financial services industry ready for it? 0 This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. In the panel session 'How to Get Quantum-Ready?' that took place at Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, Lina Beliunas, director of revenue, Zero Hash, spoke with Daragh Morrissey, AI director of WW Financial Services, Microsoft on the possibilities of quantum computing in the financial industry. The discussion examined the current quantum computing landscape, focusing on how hyper-scalers such as Microsoft are developing quantum services and software tools. Morrissey stated that Microsoft is creating software that will emulate quantum computers and abstract qubit architectures to ease integration from different providers. When speaking on the hype behind quantum computing, Morrissey said that there are also challenges to implementing quantum computing due to the complexity of building qubits and their limited availability. However, Morrissey noted that quantum may arrive sooner than expected due to the rapid pace of innovation, as seen with the AI boom. Morrissey highlighted that quantum technology is a tool that can be used to hone in on specific scenarios in banking, comparing it to a hammer and later a scalpel. 'If we look at things like a high-performance computer that was used to do risk modeling, how do you model a black swan event, for example? Or do portfolio optimisation? There's some customers looking at it for fraud as well, and credit scoring; but these use cases are not in production on quantum, but in research areas. So what some customers are doing is leveraging things like GPUs to emulate what quantum is doing, and they're calling that 'quantum-inspired research'. The number one thing for a bank and fintechs to consider is the impact that this technology is going to have on encryption.' Morrissey stated that encryption will have the greatest impact on banking and fintech, as quantum computers can easily break encryption mechanisms – therefore quantum-safe encryption is necessary to ensure security. 'I think the biggest value [of quantum technology] is also its biggest threat, and it's going to be in the security space,' Morrissey commented. Touching on the expenses attached to developing quantum technology, Morrissey explained: 'What we want to do at Microsoft is democratise this as much as possible. It should be accessible to everyone. The challenge with these computers it that they're quite exotic, and very difficult and expensive to build. Quantum computers, depending on the approach you use, run at very cold temperatures, so you can't deploy them into a rack easily. Some quantum providers, though, are looking at building silicon-based quantum processing units, so that might bring down the cost of entry, but our approach is to make it as affordable that can be help you start building applications early and help you get securities as early as possible.' Discussing how companies should prepare for quantum, Morrissey commented that moving to the cloud is essential to ensure quantum-safe security and deploy quantum use cases. Morrissey added that utilising quantum to assess and identify vulnerabilities in security systems will be essential. Concluding the conversation, Morrissey emphasised the importance of global collaboration to address the challenges of quantum computing: 'To get to the standards that we need to build, Europe, America, and Asia will all have to partner together to get ready for this problem. One thing I see in the world is that countries aren't talking to each other, which isn't good. Let's not stop talking to each other."
Finextra
4 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
Money20/20 Europe 2025: Is the future quantum-ready?
While AI is a buzzword in the fintech space, quantum is being heard more and more frequently in the sector. But what will it accomplish, and more importantly, is the financial services industry ready for it? 0 This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. In the panel session 'How to Get Quantum-Ready?' that took place at Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, Lina Beliunas, director of revenue, Zero Hash, spoke with Daragh Morrissey, AI director of WW Financial Services, Microsoft on the possibilities of quantum computing in the financial industry. The discussion examined the current quantum computing landscape, focusing on how hyper-scalers such as Microsoft are developing quantum services and software tools. Morrissey stated that Microsoft is creating software that will emulate quantum computers and abstract qubit architectures to ease integration from different providers. When speaking on the hype behind quantum computing, Morrissey said that there are also challenges to implementing quantum computing due to the complexity of building qubits and their limited availability. However, Morrissey noted that quantum may arrive sooner than expected due to the rapid pace of innovation, as seen with the AI boom. Morrissey highlighted that quantum technology is a tool that can be used to hone in on specific scenarios in banking, comparing it to a hammer and later a scalpel. 'If we look at things like a high-performance computer that was used to do risk modeling, how do you model a black swan event, for example? Or do portfolio optimisation? There's some customers looking at it for fraud as well, and credit scoring; but these use cases are not in production on quantum, but in research areas. So what some customers are doing is leveraging things like GPUs to emulate what quantum is doing, and they're calling that 'quantum-inspired research'. The number one thing for a bank and fintechs to consider is the impact that this technology is going to have on encryption.' Morrissey stated that encryption will have the greatest impact on banking and fintech, as quantum computers can easily break encryption mechanisms – therefore quantum-safe encryption is necessary to ensure security. 'I think the biggest value [of quantum technology] is also its biggest threat, and it's going to be in the security space,' Morrissey commented. Touching on the expenses attached to developing quantum technology, Morrissey explained: 'What we want to do at Microsoft is democratise this as much as possible. It should be accessible to everyone. The challenge with these computers it that they're quite exotic, and very difficult and expensive to build. Quantum computers, depending on the approach you use, run at very cold temperatures, so you can't deploy them into a rack easily. Some quantum providers, though, are looking at building silicon-based quantum processing units, so that might bring down the cost of entry, but our approach is to make it as affordable that can be help you start building applications early and help you get securities as early as possible.' Discussing how companies should prepare for quantum, Morrissey commented that moving to the cloud is essential to ensure quantum-safe security and deploy quantum use cases. Morrissey added that utilising quantum to assess and identify vulnerabilities in security systems will be essential. Concluding the conversation, Morrissey emphasised the importance of global collaboration to address the challenges of quantum computing: 'To get to the standards that we need to build, Europe, America, and Asia will all have to partner together to get ready for this problem. One thing I see in the world is that countries aren't talking to each other, which isn't good. Let's not stop talking to each other."
