Around 42% of retail banks in the UK are planning to increase their information and communications technology (ICT) investments in the near future, an increase of 4% compared to 2012 spending, according to a global survey by Kable.
The move by the retail banks is to modernise and automate their business operations by offering both online and mobile banking and personalised services.
The survey, which involved 131 retail banks, also found that around 29% of retail banks in 2013 have reduced their ICT budget, as against 35% in 2012, and around 90% of banks are planning to spend on infrastructural technologies by the end of 2014.
Kable research director, Tim Gower, said retail banks generally prefer to deploy technologies on-site rather than hosting them.
"Many banks are still reluctant to entrust their sensitive customer and financial information to cloud services run by third parties," Gower added.
