Total bank IT spending across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific will grow to US$188.0 billion in 2014, an increase of approximately 4.4% over 2013. This upward trend is an encouraging sign and indicative of the emphasis being placed on technology investments.

In the report IT Spending in Banking: A Global Perspective, Celent analyzes IT spending trends across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The report compares and contrasts the direction of IT spending trends. The majority of the growth is coming from Asia-Pacific banks: spending by banks in this region will grow by 5.8% in 2014 to US$66.5 billion. This growth will remain relatively consistent in 2015, although it will decline slightly.

US and Canadian banks are also reporting positive spending growth. North American banks’ spending will grow by a solid 4.5% in 2014 to US$59.5 billion. This figure will increase to 4.6% in 2016 to US$62.2 billion. European spending figures have been revised to reflect continued improvement in 2013. Spending by European banks will grow 2.9% in 2014 to US$62.1 billion. European spending growth will also continue to ramp up through 2016, as spending increases by 4.3% to US$67.1 billion.

“Banks across the globe are devoting significant resources to technology,” says Jacob Jegher, Senior Analyst with Celent's Banking Group and coauthor of the report. “They are emphasizing innovation and new technology investments. When examining the sum of IT spending across the three regions, IT spending is expected to grow by 4.6% in 2015 and 4.7% in 2016.”

This report is divided by region (North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific). Each section analyzes the budget allocations according to type of customer and of investment (internal versus external, maintenance versus new). An overview of the top technology trends in each region is also provided.