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CASE STUDY
Quantum Computing

Exploring quantum computing in financial services

BBVA, a multinational financial services company, wanted to explore the use of quantum computing. Accenture was ideally positioned to assist.

Challenge

BBVA, a multinational financial services company, wanted to explore the use of quantum computing. Three use cases were identified where the complexity of the data, variables and outcomes presented significant challenges even for the most modern computer systems and software packages:

  1. Currency arbitrage: Defining algorithms to deal with the complexity and competition involved in the process of deriving income from buying and selling currencies.
  2. Credit scoring: Developing new credit scoring algorithms to deal with the increasing size of the datasets.
  3. Portfolio optimization: Computing optimal trading trajectories to determine the potential impact of multiple variables on a portfolio’s performance over time.

What Accenture did

A team of researchers from Accenture worked with D-Wave and the innovation team at BBVA to explore how best to use quantum computing to gain a competitive advantage. Quantum algorithms were constructed to find opportunities for currency arbitrage, credit scoring, and optimizing trading trajectories.

 

These use cases were mathematically modeled by the team as optimization problems that could be tackled with quantum computing, and the final quantum algorithms were then implemented and tested using quantum annealers and hybrid solutions provided by D-Wave Systems.

People and culture

To create useful quantum applications, it is necessary to leverage the best technology across many parts of the ecosystem and have the right talent at all levels. BBVA engaged several of its strategic partners and vendors in the quantum ecosystem to embark on its quantum journey.

 

This opened the door for the exploration of more complex use cases and eventual productive deployment, once the necessary hardware is available. The project has helped BBVA gain public visibility and position itself as a digital and innovative firm. Once live, the system will identify new areas of growth, and the resulting stronger trading portfolios will deliver better returns on customers’ investments.

Value delivered

As part of a larger project to jumpstart BBVA’s quantum experimentation for financial services, a team of researchers from Accenture utilized D-Wave’s quantum and hybrid quantum systems to successfully map three client-relevant, but computationally challenging, use cases to quantum formulations, enabling quantum readiness for future hardware.

 

This initiative has contributed to BBVA’s position at the forefront of exploration of quantum technologies and has helped the firm forge a path of innovation in the field of quantum computing.

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