What's new
Overview
This deep dive examines recent efforts by global and national authorities to build awareness of quantum computing risks and opportunities, advance post-quantum cryptography preparedness through migration roadmaps and emerging expectations, and assess experimental quantum-safe approaches.
What's new
Bank of Italy to hold financial cryptography conference focused on quantum risks and privacy
The Bank of Italy and De Cifris will hold a financial cryptography conference on Oct. 6 covering post-quantum cryptography, quantum risks to public blockchains and privacy-protecting encryption in the public sector.
Financial Stability Board Americas group examines stablecoin risks, emerging technology and crisis preparedness
The Financial Stability Board’s Americas regional group assessed financial stability risks from geopolitical uncertainty, extreme weather, capital flows and exchange rates. Members also discussed global stablecoin arrangements, AI and quantum computing risks, and preparedness for cyber incidents and third-party outages.
European Supervisory Authorities identify external dependencies, cyber threats and private credit as key EU financial vulnerabilities
The European Supervisory Authorities identified non-EU dependencies, cyber and emerging technology threats, and private credit as key vulnerabilities, while assessing the EU financial system as resilient overall. They called for stronger crisis preparedness, monitoring and stress testing of external and private credit exposures, and early action on risks from artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Danish Financial Supervisory Authority sets 2030 technology agenda for AI, quantum risks, tokenization and innovation
The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority has set a technology agenda through 2030 covering AI, quantum technology, tokenization and financial innovation. It will assess emerging risks, clarify existing requirements and consider expanding its FT Lab regulatory sandbox, with the aim of supporting innovation without adding unnecessary rules or weakening financial stability and customer protections.
European Central Bank Banking Supervision calls for board oversight of bank digital strategies and stronger risk safeguards
European Central Bank Supervisory Board Chair Claudia Buch called for board oversight, multiyear investment and strong risk controls as banks expand their use of artificial intelligence, cloud services and tokenisation. Supervision will focus on common cyber, outsourcing and data vulnerabilities while holding banks accountable for automated decisions. Buch also backed integrated European markets and interoperable public infrastructure without weakening prudential standards.
U.S. Department of the Treasury launches public-private task force to accelerate financial sector transition to quantum-safe technology
The U.S. Department of the Treasury launched a public-private task force to accelerate the financial sector’s transition to post-quantum cryptography. Its work will focus on sector alignment, third-party readiness, digital asset risks and the operational resilience of critical financial infrastructure.
Securities and Exchange Board of India signs partnership to strengthen cybersecurity, market intelligence and technical innovation
The Securities and Exchange Board of India signed a long-term partnership with Rashtriya Raksha University and the National Institute of Securities Markets. The collaboration covers cybersecurity and emerging-technology training, research and open-source intelligence, and includes a planned Technical Innovation Unit for joint operations and innovation in the securities market.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority sets 2026-27 agenda for cyber resilience, system risk and burden-neutral reform
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s 2026-27 Corporate Plan prioritizes cyber and AI threats, technology-provider concentration, geopolitical risk and financial-sector interconnections. Planned measures include bank lending reviews, a new system-risk stress test and reforms covering superannuation capital, governance, bank capital and liquidity. APRA aims to offset new requirements through regulatory simplification.
Monetary Authority of Singapore steps up AI cyber requirements and targets quantum resilience before decade-end
The Monetary Authority of Singapore will require key financial institutions to assess and strengthen their defenses against AI-enabled cyber threats and will issue a roadmap for achieving quantum resilience before the end of the decade. The measures build on mandatory AI-assisted red teaming introduced on July 1 and include industry work on AI-based scam detection. MAS also reported that the financial system remains broadly resilient and recorded a SGD 20 billion net profit for the 2025/2026 financial year.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority launches quantum preparedness whitepaper and index, banks score 2.3 out of 10
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has issued a quantum preparedness whitepaper, launched the first Quantum Preparedness Index and set out support measures for banks. The index scored the sector at 2.3 out of 10, showing that readiness for quantum-related cyber risks and the shift to post-quantum cryptography remains at an early stage. The HKMA plans to support banks with a toolkit and workshops, with a goal of full sectoral readiness by 2030.
Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority issues quantum computing guidance after survey finds gaps in planning for quantum-safe encryption
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority has issued guidance on quantum computing based on a survey of 60 Swiss financial institutions. It found broad awareness of quantum-related cyber risks but insufficient planning for migration to quantum-safe encryption. FINMA said many institutions need to strengthen risk management and pointed to measures including migration roadmaps, risk analysis, cryptographic inventories and crypto-agility.
Bank of Italy hosts G7 Cyber Expert Group meeting on cyberattack coordination and emerging technology risks
The Bank of Italy hosted a G7 Cyber Expert Group meeting in Palermo focused on cybersecurity and operational resilience in finance. Discussions covered lessons from a recent cross-border cyberattack coordination exercise and the risks associated with artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The meeting underscored the need for international coordination to manage operational interdependencies and emerging vulnerabilities.
Taiwan Financial Services Commission releases post-quantum cryptography migration guide with phased timeline through 2035
Taiwan Financial Services Commission has issued a reference guide to help financial institutions prepare for post-quantum cryptography migration. It sets out seven strategic areas including governance, cryptographic inventories, crypto-agility, ecosystem coordination and supply chain management. The guide proposes a phased timeline from 2026 to 2035, starting with planning and inventories and later moving to pilots, upgrades and migration of high-risk systems.
China Securities Regulatory Commission sets out market reforms, wider STAR Market access for AI and a RMB foreign exchange futures pilot
In remarks at the Lujiazui Forum, the China Securities Regulatory Commission outlined a new reform agenda for listings, products and cross-border access. It plans broader STAR Market access for artificial intelligence and other hard-technology issuers, faster M&A and refinancing tools including shelf issuance, active ETFs and commercial real estate REITs, and work toward a RMB foreign exchange futures pilot. The commission also signaled tighter oversight of AI-related market abuse and unlawful cross-border business.
SWIFT appoints Michael Manos as chief information officer to lead platform security and post quantum transition
SWIFT has named Michael Manos as chief information officer, replacing retiring CTO Cheri McGuire. He will lead network, security and cloud strategy, including SWIFT’s post-quantum cryptography roadmap and its approach to frontier artificial intelligence. The role also covers maintaining resilient services as SWIFT expands its digital technology and tokenisation agenda.
Bank of Canada and G7 central banks publish first joint framework on quantum technology risks and opportunities for finance
The Bank of Canada and other G7 central banks published their first joint report on quantum technologies and the financial system. The non-prescriptive paper sets out a shared framework for assessing risks to cryptography and data security, alongside potential longer-term uses in areas such as risk modelling and forecasting. It emphasizes coordination and preparedness given uncertainty over the timing and impact of quantum advances.
Reserve Bank of Australia to launch payments regulation consultation and broaden cryptography review beyond card payments
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s Payments System Board approved the full assessment of the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System against the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures and outlined the next phase of its payments work, including a public consultation on the Review of Payments System Regulation and expanded cryptography work. The Board confirmed consultation on stronger cryptographic practices given classical and quantum computing risks, noted recent changes to card payment cost and surcharging standards, and decided not to stop non-designated systems introducing no-surcharge rules. It also reviewed findings on unmet payment needs and digital money, indicating limited public interest in a retail central bank digital currency, with an external report to inform an updated retail CBDC assessment in 2026/27.
European Association of CCP Clearing Houses renews co-chair mandates elects board until 2028 and approves 2026-2028 strategy
The European Association of CCP Clearing Houses has renewed the mandates of its co-chairs, appointed a new board and internal auditor for two-year terms to the 2028 General Assembly, and agreed its 2026-2028 strategy. The new leadership, drawn from LCH, Eurex Clearing, ICE Clear Europe and other major CCPs, will focus on new technologies, cyber security, quantum computing, distributed ledger technology, supervision and reporting, the Market Integration and Supervision Initiative, the Savings and Investments Union and energy.
Bank of France publishes French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority Review issue 66 on complaints handling and post quantum cryptography preparedness
The Bank of France has published issue 66 of the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority review, highlighting a customer protection event for banks and insurers and the ACPR’s work on complaints handling in banking and insurance. The issue also covers outreach on post-quantum cryptography, a new study on life insurance in France in 2025, and the ACPR Chair seminar.
Arab Monetary Fund convenes 15th Arab Regional Fintech Working Group meeting on stablecoin and CBDC regulation
The Arab Monetary Fund inaugurated the fifteenth meeting of the Arab Regional Fintech Working Group, held virtually with Arab central banks, monetary authorities, finance ministries, capital market authorities, and international institutions. Participants are discussing regulatory frameworks for stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, the use of artificial intelligence in financial supervision, and the implications of emerging technologies such as quantum computing, data sovereignty, cloud governance, and financial infrastructure resilience to support aligned regulatory and supervisory frameworks across Arab countries.
Bank for International Settlements working paper sets out a proof of concept for quantum posterior sampling in Bayesian inference
The Bank for International Settlements published a working paper demonstrating a proof-of-concept quantum algorithm for Bayesian posterior sampling in Qiskit, encoding a discretised posterior distribution into an n-qubit quantum state and estimating posterior expectations via repeated measurement. The paper finds no current computational speedup over classical methods such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo, importance sampling or particle filtering, and highlights quantum state preparation and hardware limitations as key challenges for scalable and hybrid classical-quantum techniques.
Reserve Bank of Australia publishes Council of Financial Regulators quarterly statement on heightened geopolitical risk and crisis and cyber preparedness
The Reserve Bank of Australia's Council of Financial Regulators' quarterly statement highlighted elevated global financial stability risks from Middle East conflicts affecting Australia's financial system. The Council emphasized strong bank capital and liquidity, prudent lending standards, crisis preparedness, and cyber resilience. Efforts to streamline data collection and reporting were reviewed, alongside discussions on the IMF's Financial Sector Assessment Program and Project Acacia's tokenisation initiatives.
Bank of Italy publishes TARGET2 study showing EUR 23–38 million daily liquidity savings from quantum payment reordering
The Bank of Italy's research paper explores optimizing payment processing in high-value gross-settlement systems to reduce liquidity requirements. Using a hybrid quantum approach and machine learning, the study estimates daily liquidity savings of EUR 23 million to EUR 38 million, with larger batch sizes yielding higher savings. Results are benchmarked against a Simulated Annealing Algorithm, showing comparable savings and scalability for larger batches.
Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub publishes Project FuSSE report showing modular settlement prototype handling 10,000 transactions per second
The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub released the Project FuSSE report, showcasing a proof of concept for a "Fully Scalable Settlement Engine" to enhance future payment systems amid digital payment growth and quantum-computing risks. Developed with the Inter-American Development Bank, the Central Bank of Chile, and the Bank of Canada, the prototype demonstrated high transaction throughput and efficient scaling but highlighted increased operational complexity and cyber-attack vulnerabilities.
Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub publishes Project FuSSE findings on modular settlement engine scalability and quantum readiness
The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub released a report on Project FuSSE, a proof-of-concept for a modular, microservices-based settlement engine architecture aimed at enhancing scalability, adaptability, and cyber resilience in financial market infrastructures. The report discusses the potential benefits and operational trade-offs, including processing up to 10,000 transactions per second and integrating post-quantum cryptography, while noting the project's experimental nature and lack of production-ready components.