Hong Kong’s central bank puts a number on lenders' quantum preparedness. It's very low.

MarketsHong Kong’s central bank puts a number on lenders' quantum preparedness. It's very low.The Hong Kong Monetary Authority published a whitepaper on the quantum preparedness of Hong Kong’s banking industry and its first Quantum Preparedness Index.By Omkar Godbole|Edited by Sheldon Reback Jul 28, 2026, 7:55 a.m. 2 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX iconX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on SummaryShowThe Hong Kong Monetary Authority gave the banking sector a Quantum Preparedness Index score of just 2.3 out of 10.Most banks remain stuck in the awareness phase, with few formal plans or pilot projects for post-quantum cryptography.The HKMA aims to lift the industry to a 10 by 2030 through toolkits, workshops and skills training, as global regulators, including the U.S. government, push parallel timelines for quantum development and post-quantum security upgrades.Hong Kong’s central bank is sounding the alarm on quantum computing.On Monday, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published a whitepaper on the banking sector’s readiness for the quantum era, complete with its first Quantum Preparedness Index reading. The score? A dismal 2.3 out of 10. At that level, the territory’s banking industry is just figuring out the risks posed by the technology even as many security experts warn that the quantum age is already knocking on the door. The whitepaper, unveiled at the eighth FiNETech conference and based on a survey conducted earlier this year, shows awareness is starting to build, but actual preparation is lagging. About 68% of banks surveyed showed at least some awareness or had moved into planning or pilot stages. The rest hadn’t even started. Roughly half have yet to formalize a plan for moving to post-quantum cryptography. Additionally, while board-level discussions had occurred at about half the banks, only one-third had begun exploring or testing anything quantum-related.In essence, Hong Kong banks were still laying the…

Hong Kong’s central bank puts a number on lenders' quantum preparedness. It's very low.

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