HSBC has joined the BT and Toshiba commercial quantum secure metro network to test the transmission of data over fibre-optic cables between its global HQ in Canary Wharf and a datacentre in Berkshire. The bank hopes to use the trial to improve its understanding of how to use quantum computing on financial services, such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC). The QKD technology will be tested using a number of applications including financial transactions, secure video communications and one-time-pad encryption. HSBC is also exploring applications in quantum computing across optimisation, simulation and machine learning.