HSBC announces successful use of quantum computers for bond trading purposes (www.hsbc.com)

HSBC and IBM announced what they describe as the world’s first empirical evidence that current quantum computers can add value to real-world algorithmic bond trading. In a trial validating production-scale European corporate bond data on multiple IBM machines (including the high-performance Heron processor), a hybrid quantum–classical workflow improved predictions of a quote’s probability of being filled by up to 34% versus standard classical techniques. The experiment focused on optimizing requests-for-quote (RFQ) in over‑the‑counter bond markets, where fast, noisy pricing and competitive bidding make accurate win‑probability estimates crucial for automated pricing and execution strategies. The result is significant because it shows a near‑term, practical use case where quantum resources can augment classical models to extract hidden pricing signals from noisy market data, potentially offering a competitive edge in financial services as hardware scales. Technically, the teams combined classical infrastructure with quantum processors accessed via the cloud and IBM’s Qiskit stack, demonstrating that current devices can meaningfully enhance specific subcomponents of trading pipelines rather than replace classical systems. The trial underscores a roadmap for hybrid algorithms in dynamic optimization and risk‑sensitive decisioning, and suggests broader industry impact as quantum hardware and algorithms continue to improve.