IT market set to steam

With spending on the way up, 2007 could be a great year for IT professionals in investment banking.

According to research from analyst house Tower Group, IT spending in investment banking will increase substantially next year, with banks investing $3.1 billion in new IT systems.

"We're expecting investment banks to begin catching up with the trading side of the industry, where technology has been more accepted," says Stephen Bruel, a securities and capital markets analyst with Tower Group.

MiFID turns up the heat

Driving much of this investment will be the introduction of MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive), explains James Parker, financial services manager with recruitment firm Robert Walters. "MiFID will affect the kinds of information that banks are required to keep, how they store it, and how long it is kept for - that means increased demand for people with skills around storage, Storage Area Networks and information risk."

Parker says that candidates with MiFID experience can already claim a 15 percent salary premium, and he expects this to increase as the deadline for compliance looms closer.

MiFID isn't the only change coming in 2007. There are several important technology releases slated for next year, including Microsoft's Vista, Cluster 7, and Net 2.0. At the same time as banks are rolling out these products, they are also likely to be focusing strongly on integration, says Alicia Bailey, manager of technology with FSS Recruitment.

"We're seeing banks looking to integrate hosted applications, international banking systems, offshore outsourced systems - they need people who know multiple software platforms, and have great integration and project management skills, as well as knowing the new products," she says.