HSBC announced the world’s first-known empirical evidence of the potential value of current quantum computers for solving real-world problems in algorithmic bond trading. Working with a team from IBM, HSBC leveraged an approach that utilised quantum and classical computing resources to deliver up to a 34 percent improvement in predicting how likely a trade would be filled at a quoted price, compared to common classical techniques used in the industry. HSBC and IBM’s trial explored how today’s quantum computers could optimise requests for quote in over-the-counter markets, where financial assets such as bonds are traded between two parties without a centralised exchange or broker. In this process, algorithmic strategies and statistical models estimate how likely a trade is to be filled at a quoted price. The teams validated real and production-scale trading data on multiple IBM quantum computers to predict the probability of winning customer inquiries in the European corporate bond market. The results show the value quantum computers could offer when integrated into the dynamic problems facing the financial services industry, and how they could potentially offer superior solutions over standard methods which use classical computers alone. In this case, IBM Quantum Heron was able to augment classical computing workflows to better unravel hidden pricing signals in noisy market data than standard, classical-only approaches in use by HSBC, resulting in strong improvements in the bond trading process.