On January 17, 2024, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published a white paper titled “Quantum Security for the Financial Sector: Informing Global Regulatory Approaches,” developed in collaboration with the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The report was released during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 in Davos-Klosters, according to a WEF press release.
The white paper analyzes a financial sector facing a quantum transition predicted to drive investment to $19 billion by the 2030s and up to $850 billion over the next 30 years. Alongside economic opportunities, the report warns that the digital-to-quantum transition will introduce cybersecurity threats that could erode the trust and stability on which the global financial system depends.
Based on collaborative research with regulators, central banks, industry players, and academia, the report established four guiding principles for managing quantum security risks: reuse and repurpose existing tools and frameworks; establish non-negotiable baseline security requirements; increase transparency through open information-sharing; and avoid fragmentation by pursuing globally coordinated regulatory approaches. Suman Ziaullah, the FCA’s Head of Technology Resilience and Cyber, noted that addressing the quantum security challenge “requires a truly collaborative effort to transition to a quantum-secure future.”