Hong Kong banks score 2.3/10 on quantum readiness, HKMA targets 2030

Hong Kong's banking sector scored 2.3 out of 10 on the market's first Quantum Preparedness Index, a measure the Hong Kong Monetary Authority introduced Monday to gauge the industry's ability to withstand threats from quantum computing. The HKMA said it aims to push that score to a full 10 by 2030.

Roughly half of the institutions surveyed for the accompanying white paper had no formal post-quantum planning in place, the regulator found. The index and the white paper are part of a broader push to secure the city's financial infrastructure as it moves more traditional activity onto distributed ledgers.

Hong Kong has issued three batches of tokenized green bonds worth about HK$16.8 billion (roughly $2.1 billion) since 2023, according to government figures. The HKMA is also advancing tokenized deposits and digital-asset settlement through Project Ensemble. Those applications rely on cryptography for core functions, and the white paper warned that a quantum computer capable of running Shor's algorithm at scale could eventually break the RSA and elliptic-curve encryption that underpins the system.

An attacker with such a machine could decrypt protected data or forge the digital signatures used to authorize transactions, verify identities, and establish trust in financial networks, the white paper said. Because replacing embedded cryptographic systems can take years, the HKMA urged banks to start inventories, risk assessments, and migration planning now.