Canadian Bank Uses Quantum Computers to Predict Earthquakes

A Canadian bank is stepping into territory that typically belongs to seismologists and governments: predicting earthquakes. Bank of Montreal (BMO) has filed a provisional patent for a quantum algorithm designed to forecast seismic events, while simultaneously deploying AI-driven mobile branches into wildfire zones. The institution frames this as the future of financial risk management.

Banks do not usually involve themselves with when the ground will shake. Their expertise lies in pricing risk, a closely related field. Historically, the task of forecasting earthquakes has fallen to seismologists, government agencies, and a select group of specialist insurers. Bank of Montreal wants to change that dynamic.

On May 1, Kristin Milchanowski, BMO’s newly appointed Chief AI and Quantum Officer, told Bloomberg that the bank has submitted a provisional patent for a quantum algorithm aimed at seismic prediction. She also revealed that the same team is using artificial intelligence to route mobile banking units to communities impacted by wildfires, including those that devastated parts of Los Angeles last year. This portfolio is intentionally unconventional for a major Canadian lender.

BMO formalized this commitment last month with the launch of the BMO Institute for Applied Artificial Intelligence & Quantum on April 9. The Institute serves as a centralized hub for research, governance, and practical applications in AI and quantum computing. While AI is already embedded in financial services for fraud detection, credit scoring, and customer service, quantum computing remains largely theoretical for banking workflows.

Milchanowski, who previously served as the bank’s chief AI and data officer, leads the new Institute. Shortly after its launch, BMO announced partnerships with Quantum Industry Canada and the Chicago Quantum Exchange, two established quantum policy and research organizations in North America. This move signals that BMO wants to be recognized as a quantum-curious institution, not just an AI-fluent one.

The provisional patent is the most tangible result of this ambition so far. Quantum algorithms excel at high-dimensional optimization and combinatorial search, problems that overwhelm classical hardware as datasets grow. Seismic forecasting, which relies on massive volumes of geophysical data and notoriously difficult models, fits that description perfectly.

Milchanowski did not claim that BMO has solved earthquake prediction. The patent is provisional, the algorithm has not been independently tested, and practical quantum hardware capable of running such workloads at scale does not yet exist outside research labs. What the filing represents is intent and a calculated bet on future optionality. If quantum advantage in this field ever materializes, BMO will hold a stake in it.

There is also a clear commercial rationale. Better catastrophe modeling directly benefits insurance, mortgage portfolios, and infrastructure lending, all areas where Canadian banks face significant climate-driven exposure. This forces a fundamental rethink of underwriting.

While quantum remains a long-term play, the bank’s AI work is already operational. Milchanowski explained that BMO uses AI models to identify communities cut off by wildfires and to route mobile branch units, effectively banks-on-wheels, into those areas. The Los Angeles fires of early 2025 left tens of thousands without access to physical banking. AI dispatch helps reduce the time between displacement and service restoration. This is not a flashy use case, but it distinguishes AI-as-marketing from AI-as-operations.

The timing of this announcement is significant. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the financial industry is splitting on quantum investment. Goldman Sachs has scaled back parts of its quantum research, while JPMorgan continues to invest. BMO’s move places it firmly on the investment side, albeit on a smaller scale.

Whether any of this yields returns within a typical investor horizon remains uncertain. Researchers widely agree that quantum hardware capable of outperforming classical alternatives on real-world problems is still years away. BMO’s argument is that the risks of being late outweigh the costs of being early. For a bank with substantial climate exposure and a reputational need to demonstrate technological seriousness, this is a defensible position. It is also, by definition, a bet that may not pay off for years, if at all.

For now, the most tangible results are a filing at the US Patent and Trademark Office and a fleet of mobile branches arriving where the smoke has cleared.