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The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced plans to explore the use of quantum computing and machine learning to detect money laundering and financial fraud.
The regulator will establish a Quantum Experimentation Group, bringing together financial institutions, technology companies and national research laboratories to examine how the technology could strengthen financial crime detection.
The initiative is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2027, with financial crime identified as its initial area of research. Organisations interested in participating can register their interest until December 31, 2026.
How Will Quantum Computing Help Detect Financial Crime?
The FCA intends to investigate whether quantum machine learning can improve the identification of suspicious financial activities and support efforts to combat fraud and money laundering.
Quantum computing is being explored for its potential to process complex information and address problems that may be difficult for conventional computing systems.
However, the regulator has not announced any operational fraud detection system. The initiative remains experimental and will assess whether the technology offers practical benefits.
What Is the Quantum Experimentation Group?
The proposed group will bring together financial services firms, quantum technology providers and national research laboratories.
Participants will jointly examine potential applications of quantum computing within financial services, beginning with financial crime detection.
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The programme will also help organisations understand the technical challenges involved in adopting the technology and identify areas where further testing may be useful.
How Will Financial Data Be Protected During Testing?
The FCA plans to provide participants with a synthetic dataset containing artificially generated information.
This will allow researchers and financial institutions to test quantum machine learning models without relying on actual customer records. Access to suitable financial data is a significant challenge when experimenting with new technologies.
Using synthetic information is intended to address this problem while allowing participating organisations to examine potential financial crime detection applications.
What Does the FCA Want to Achieve?
Beyond exploring technical applications, the initiative will help the regulator understand the opportunities and limitations of quantum computing.
It will also examine the barriers financial institutions face when experimenting with advanced technologies and consider the possible implications for future regulation. The programme builds on the FCA’s previous research into the long-term potential of quantum computing across financial services.
Its findings will be shared to guide further experimentation and help the industry assess potential applications.
What Has the FCA Said About the Initiative?
Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer, emphasised the importance of early experimentation in understanding where quantum computing could make a meaningful difference.
According to Rusu, collaboration between financial institutions, technology providers and researchers can help build industry readiness and identify solutions to shared challenges. Financial crime will be the starting point for these efforts.
What Cybersecurity Challenges Does Quantum Computing Present?
While quantum computing may offer opportunities for detecting financial crime, it also raises concerns about the security of existing digital systems.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has advised financial institutions to complete their transition to post-quantum cryptography by 2035. That recommendation addresses the potential future threat quantum computing could pose to existing encryption methods.
The FCA’s new initiative, however, focuses on examining how quantum technology could help financial institutions strengthen fraud detection and financial crime controls rather than on replacing existing cybersecurity systems.
