New York, NY, USA December 28, 2007

North American bank IT spending grew 4.1% from US$46.0 billion in 2006 to US$47.9 billion in 2007. In light of uncertain market conditions, bank IT spending levels in 2008 will experience a slowdown for the first time in several years, climbing a modest 3.6% to reach just under US$50 billion.

In a new report, , Celent examines, analyzes, and contrasts the IT spending patterns of US and Canadian banks. While 2007 spending growth levels remained relatively constant, 2008 bank IT spending growth will experience a slowdown for the first time in several years.

While a few of the large Canadian banks have had some exposure to the US subprime crisis, it will have little impact on IT spending. Spending will continue to flow as most Canadian banks churn out strong profits and take advantage of the strong Canadian dollar. Canadian bank IT spending will grow by 4.3% in 2008 to US$6.5 billion.

"The credit crunch and looming economic uncertainty have US banks tightening their belts, says Jacob Jegher, senior analyst in Celent's banking group and co-author of the report. "Banks of all sizes are slashing budgets and placing significant emphasis on keeping costs under control. This contraction will push numerous IT projects out of the picture and make internal competition for IT resources that much greater. IT dollars will be hard to come by after compliance/regulatory spending and maintenance expenditures. This is a difficult position for banks to be in, particularly since the market is still hyper-competitive."

This report examines the regional breakdowns of retail versus wholesale spending, internal versus external spending, as well as spending on maintenance versus new investments. The report also outlines several key North American banking technology trends and growth areas for 2008.

This 21-page report contains 7 figures and 1 table.

A table of contents is available online.

Members of Celent's research services can download the report electronically by clicking on the icon to the left. Non-members should contact info@celent.com for more information.