Will the Immense Power of Quantum Computers Allow Investment Managers to Earn Superior Investment Returns?

(ValueWalk) At the IQT Europe virtual conference on quantum computing and finance on December 10, 2020, William Zeng, head of quantum research at Goldman Sachs, told the audience that quantum computing could have a “revolutionary” impact on the bank, and on finance more broadly. In a similar vein, Marco Pistoia of JP Morgan stated that new quantum machines will boost profits by speeding up asset pricing models and digging up better-performing portfolios. While there is little dispute that quantum computing has great potential to perform certain mathematical calculations much more quickly, whether it can revolutionize investing by so doing is an altogether different matter.
The hope is that the immense power of quantum computers will allow investment managers earn superior investment returns by uncovering patterns in prices and financial data that can be exploited. The dark side is that quantum computers will open the door to finding patterns that either do not actually exist, or if they did exist at one time, no longer do.