Quantum Computing for Financial Transformation: A Review of Optimisation, Pricing, Risk, Machine Learning, and Post-Quantum Security

TL;DR

This review explores how quantum computing can impact finance by analyzing optimization, pricing, risk, machine learning, and security, emphasizing practical hybrid workflows over universal advantage claims.

Contribution

It provides a linked, layered analysis of quantum applications in finance, comparing quantum primitives with classical benchmarks under realistic constraints.

Findings

Quantum optimization is credible in constrained search scenarios.

Amplitude-estimation methods are relevant for expectation evaluation.

Post-quantum cryptography is strategically necessary now.

Abstract

Quantum computing is becoming strategically relevant to finance because several core financial bottlenecks are already defined by combinatorial search, expectation estimation, rare-event analysis, representation learning, and long-horizon cryptographic resilience. This review examines that landscape across five connected domains: constrained portfolio optimisation, derivative pricing, tail-risk and scenario estimation, quantum machine learning, and post-quantum security. Rather than treating these topics as isolated demonstrations, the article studies them as linked layers of a financial-computation stack. Across all five domains, the review applies a common evaluative logic: identify the financial bottleneck, specify the relevant quantum primitive, compare it with an explicit classical benchmark, and assess the result under realistic implementation and governance constraints. The main conclusion is measured but consequential. The strongest near-term case for quantum finance lies in carefully designed hybrid workflows rather than blanket claims of universal advantage. Quantum optimisation is most credible when constrained search dominates; amplitude-estimation methods matter most when repeated expectation evaluation is the binding cost; quantum machine learning remains task dependent; and post-quantum cryptography is already strategically necessary because financial infrastructures must migrate before fault-tolerant attacks arrive. By combining system-level synthesis with locally reproducible small-scale case studies on simulated qubit registers, the article is intended both as a review of the field and as a handbook-style entry point for future work.