Global IT spending on the rise: Celent

Financial service institutions’ spending on global information technology is expected to reach US$357.4 billion in 2010, according to a new Celent report.
This is an increase of 2.9% over 2009, and substantially higher than the 2.5% decline in growth experienced last year, says the report, entitled IT Spending in Financial Services: A Global Perspective.
IT spending in North America is predicted to climb to US$128.8 billion in 2012, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4% from 2010 to 2012.
Financial institutions in North America account for 33.1% of the global IT investments.
“Across all industry groups and regions, securities firms in Asia-Pacific (8.0% CAGR) and North America (6.2%), and insurance companies in Europe (6.6%) will experience the fastest growth from 2010 to 2012,” according to the report. “The slowest growth will be found at North American and European banks.”
North American banks are expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2010 to 2012.
“Of the total investment in IT in 2008, a whopping 72.7% still goes to maintenance,” the report found. “The percentage of funds dedicated to maintenance activities is still astronomical but is slowly coming down; this figure should drop to 70% in 2012.”