Back in the 1990s, a rash of consultancies would publish weekly forecasts on this or that technology that would growth 5,000% over the next 15 years. Needless to say, they were wrong, at least in some cases. I’ve learned to take these long-term forecasts with a grain a salt.

And with that introduction, the latest projections for spending on retail banking IT, courtesy of a consultancy called Ovum:

• Global expenditure on retail banking technology will total $132 billion in 2015, a 24% growth over the next five years;
• Japan will account for the largest share at $9 billion in 2015, and China at $7.8 billion; and 
• Investments in internet banking will grow 39% from 2010 to 2015 to hit $1.8 billion.