Hong Kong banks score 2.3 out of 10 on quantum readiness — quantum computers facepalm 🏦

Hong Kong's banking sector scored a 2.3 out of 10 on the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's first Quantum Preparedness Index, a figure the central bank published on Monday as part of a whitepaper unveiled at the eighth FiNETech conference. The 2.3 reading placed most lenders in the awareness phase of a four-stage framework that also tracks planning, pilot programs and practical preparedness, leaving the industry's overall quantum posture far below the 10-out-of-10 target the HKMA has set for 2030.

The index is based on a survey conducted earlier this year and shows that about 68% of banks have at least some awareness of quantum-related risks or have moved into planning or pilot stages, while the remainder have not yet started. Roughly half of respondents have not formalized a plan for migrating to post-quantum cryptography, and although board-level discussions have occurred at about half of the banks, only one-third have begun exploring or testing quantum-related projects. The HKMA said it will support the industry through the transition with toolkits, workshops and skills training designed to lift the score to 10 by 2030.

The whitepaper framed the urgency in terms of specific threats to financial cryptography, including "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks in which adversaries stockpile encrypted data today in anticipation of future quantum decryption capability. The Bank for International Settlements' Project Leap has flagged such attacks as an immediate threat to the financial system, and the same exposure extends to blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, where the underlying cryptography could face long-term risk if and when large-scale quantum machines become available. The U.S. government has set parallel timelines for post-quantum security upgrades. Practical, large-scale quantum machines capable of breaking bank security and blockchains such as Bitcoin do not exist today.