Bank of Montreal (BMO) has filed a provisional patent on a quantum algorithm for seismic forecasting and launched the BMO Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence & Quantum. The bank's Chief AI and Quantum Officer explained that while the quantum hardware to run such workloads at scale doesn't yet exist outside research labs, the filing represents a strategic bet on future optionality in catastrophe modeling for insurance, mortgages, and infrastructure lending. In parallel, BMO is already deploying AI in production to route mobile banking units to wildfire-affected communities, as demonstrated during the 2025 Los Angeles fires. The move positions BMO alongside JPMorgan as quantum-investing banks, contrasting with Goldman Sachs scaling back its quantum research.
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