Besides the obvious name. QuantFi, delves into the less than obvious and straightforward world of Finance. Followers of the progress of the Quantum Industry will have observed that one of the nascent industries in the near term likely to benefit from Quantum Algorithms is that of finance. Therefore it should come as no surprise to see specialist companies working to develop advantages employing Quantum Algorithms in the finance space. One of those companies pioneering work on putting Quantum into Finance is the Anglo-Franco consultancy: QuantFi.
The origins of QuantFi
Founded by an INSEAD MBA: Paul Hiriart was previously involved in quantitative finance. The Team has spun out from there and comprises numerous researchers (often Postdocs and Postgrads from) from high calibre research establishments and has links to UCL, Sorbonne and Keio University. It has already attracted numerous researchers from across the globe, some in France, Japan and the UK.
What does QuantFi Focus on?
There are three main areas that QuantFi are working on: Trend Detection, Derivative Pricing and Risk Management and Portfolio Management. Working with the IBM Q Network they are exploring how value can be achieved from new algorithmic approaches utilising IBM Quantum Computers in the cloud.
That research performed and expertise is then up for hire with a focus on formulating financial problems into an amenable way that can be solved with Quantum algorithms. QuantFi are working with diverse clients and strategic partners that include banks, insurance companies, and asset managers.
Of course in terms of algorithms, it is no secret that much focus is on Quantum Machine Learning, which like classical Machine Learning is used to spot patterns or classify data for example that might prove valuable. Of course current hardware provides some limitations, but as hardware improves (not just number of gates) then there could be enormous advantages of using Quantum techniques – something that Financial clients are keenly aware of.
Another strand they are working on relates to optimisation as one of their team works on ZX-Calculus, which is a way to optimise Quantum resources and get more bang for the buck out of existing constraints.
The future of Quantitative Finance is Quantum
We at QuantumZeitgeist are privileged to see what companies, researchers and organisations are working on. We certainly see Quantitative finance as an early adopter of Quantum algorithms. However not every finance institution will have the necessary in-house talent to be able to exploit the Quantum domain and therefore certainly will look to buy in this expertise. For example Goldman Sachs has looked to partner with QC Ware to see whether options pricing can be sped up.
With such an array of challenging and interesting problems to solve in finance, it is no surprise that researchers are inspired by Quantum developments to exploit. QuantFi is definitely on trend and looks to exploit this early wave of interest applied to the finance domain.