InformationWeek has published its annual ranking of the top 500 innovators ion business technology, and the banking and financial services industry is well represented. All total, 41 companies in the banking and financial services and insurance industries were listed among the top 250 most innovative companies. Banking was the only industry with three companies ranked in the top 12, with Fiserv at No. 4, Principal Financial at No. 9, and Northern Trust at No. 12.

Having so many innovative companies perhaps can be explained by the vast amounts spent by banks and financial institutions on their information technology needs. Banks spend 8% of their total sales on IT-related directives, according to InformationWeek, compared with 2.4% for all industries combined.

For all the problems in the banking and financial services sector, technology spending is showing no signs of slowing down. Nearly two-thirds of banks surveyed indicated that their tech spending in 2008 will be higher than 2007. Customer-facing technology is receiving the bulk of new spending at banks, according to IW.

More information about the magazine’s rankings is available here.