JPMorgan hires scientist Charles Lim to help protect financial system from quantum supremacy threat

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JPMorgan Chase has hired a Singapore-based quantum computing expert to be the bank's global head for quantum communications and cryptography, according to a memo obtained by CNBC.

Charles Lim, an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore, will be focused on exploring next-generation computing technology in secure communications, according to the memo from Marco Pistoia, who runs the bank's global technology applied research group.

Lim is a «recognized worldwide leader» in the area of quantum-powered communications networks, according to Pistoia.

Hired from IBM in early 2020, Pistoia has built a team at JPMorgan focused on quantum computing and other nascent technologies. Unlike classical computers, which store information as either zeros or ones, quantum computing hinges on quantum physics. Instead of being binary, qubits can simultaneously be a combination of both zero and one, as well as any value in between.

The futuristic technology, which involves keeping hardware at super-cold temperatures and is years away from commercial use, promises the ability to solve problems far beyond the reach of today's traditional computers. Technology giants including Alphabet and IBM are racing towards building a reliable quantum computer, and financial firms including JPMorgan and Visa are exploring possible uses for it.

«New horizons are going to become possible, things we didn't think would be possible before,» Pistoia said in a JPMorgan podcast interview.

In finance, machine-learning algorithms will improve to help fraud detection on transactions and other areas that involve «prohibitive complexity,» including portfolio optimization and options pricing, he said.

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