LEHMAN AND MERRILL'S TECH EFFECT
Tech spending will be down next year and not just because everyone's going to be tightening belts during the market downturn. According to Financial Insights, recently bankrupt Lehman Brothers accounted for more than three percent of U.S. securities and investment services IT spending and made up nearly 20 percent of spending among the top 10 securities firms. Merrill Lynch, which is being purchased by Bank of America, is actually ahead of Lehman in this regard. Add in Bear Stearns, which made up seven percent of the top 10's spending, and 2009 figures to be even slower than once thought. On the flip side, Barclays' planned purchase of Lehman's North American investment banking business was driven in large part by the institution's trading technology and impressive New York City headquarters. Of the $1.75 billion cost, according to reports, $1.5 billion is earmarked for the HQ, two data centers and the trading technology.
AN OVERFLOW OF ALT-FINANCIAL SITES
Will people start to look to "alt-finance" sites as a result of market turmoil? There are several sites sure banking on that. Wesabe, a leading social networking and personal finance Web site, just launched a Windows Vista gadget to provide real-time bank and credit card balances. Savings site SmartyPig is touting its new Web 2.0 solution to appeal to a younger audience. Credit card consolidator Rate Surfer is due to fully launch in the coming weeks and will allow users to find low APR balance transfers that can be executed with a click of the mouse. Finally, MyMoney is a new Facebook app that allows users to manage their finances right from the social networking site.(c) 2008 Bank Technology News and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.americanbanker.com/btn.html/ http://www.sourcemedia.com/
