Financial IT could face slowdown

Financial services IT may be the next sector to face cutbacks in the volatile economic climate that has already taken down Bear Stearns. Analysts anticipate the overall IT spending in the financial industry to either flatten or fall. "For some larger banks, IT budgets could be down by as much as 15%," depending on their degree of exposure to the subprime mortgage mess, says David Easthope, at research company Celent. There is some good news, too, however. Some technology areas, such as risk management software and high-speed, low-latency network infrastructure for obtaining market data and making instantaneous trades, will continue to rake in IT dollars.

For more on the pending downturn in financial IT:
- See this InformationWeek article