UK Announces an Investment of £121 Million for Quantum Tech to Combat Money Laundering

The UK government has announced an investment of £121 million for quantum technology to combat money laundering and fraud that costs the British economy billions of pounds.

The investment is expected to further develop the UK’s world-class research programmes and lock its position as an international leader in the quantum technology field.

To mark World Quantum Day (Monday, 14 April), the government announced this big initiative. However, the funding for this initiative will be available over the next 12 months.

The objective of the investment is to expand the use of quantum technology, which is renowned for using the special characteristics of the tiniest particles in the universe to build incredibly powerful computers and sensors.

The financial services sector is expected to experience a rapid transformation with the application of quantum computing, which could improve risk management, modeling, and computation.

It will also help categories like combating crime, fighting fraud, and preventing money laundering, which will increase working people’s incomes and promote economic expansion.

As part of the UK’s broader “Plan for Change,” this initiative expands upon the National Quantum Technologies Program.  Supporting research and bringing quantum solutions from the lab to practical uses in the public and business sectors are the objectives.

The Plan for Change was introduced to Parliament by the Prime Minister on December 5, 2024.

As part of the Plan for Change, the British government has taken a number of actions, including this most recent investment, to capitalize on the promising potential of innovative technologies like quantum to accelerate economic growth in the year 2025.

From a compliance perspective, quantum technology reduces the time and resources needed to ensure regulatory adherence by spotting patterns and anomalies in datasets.

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A recent study revealed that spending on quantum computing in the financial services industry is predicted to rise 233 times. It will also help categories like combating crime, fighting fraud, and preventing money laundering, which will increase working people’s incomes and promote economic expansion from US$80 million in 2022 to US$19 billion in 2032. Numerous banks have already begun experimenting with this cutting-edge technology.

According to the official announcement, one of the main initiatives is a partnership between HSBC and the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC), where experts investigate how quantum computers can analyze large and complex data sets to find early indicators of illegal financial activity.