Worldwide financial services spending is projected to total $472.6 billion in 2006, a 3.6 percent increase from 2005 spending of $456.3 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. In 2007, the market is expected to grow 4.5 percent to $493.7 billion.

The market is being driven by a combination of factors, including the economic climate. Industrialized countries are still benefiting from the tail end of the most recent economic expansion which drove higher trading activity, more mergers and acquisitions, and an increase in demand for corporate lending. Developing countries are benefiting from the democratization of wealth in their economies, which is spreading from the high-net-worth population to a much broader mass-affluent population as manufacturing and professional services jobs are generated by global trade.

It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s good to see that technology spending in the financial space is growing yet again.