Investment tops holiday spending

New IBM research reveals that despite the recent volatility in the financial markets, investors are more likely to cut holiday spending than investment contributions.

At the same time, research from the IBM Institute for Business Value indicates that a majority of investors believe that a “trust gap” exists between banks and their customers, and that this is a major factor in decisions by banks to invest in analytics and other solutions to provide greater insight into client needs.

According to the investor survey, while two-thirds of American investors claim to be paying more attention to financial news, many still lack basic knowledge required to make smart investment decisions. Globally, more than 60 percent of clients believe banks operate primarily in their own interests rather than those of their customers.

The investor survey is part of IBM’s ongoing worldwide research into investor sentiment and the banking industry, which confirms that desire is growing among consumers for unbiased financial advice.

The survey found that:

* Only 27 percent of investors surveyed indicated they would cut investment contributions, compared with 35 percent who said they would cut holiday spending;
* 75 percent of investors will maintain or increase their investment contributions;
* 82 percent of investors have no plans to withdraw funds from their retirement accounts.

The survey was conducted by Braun Research and was based on telephone interviews with 1,000 U.S. investors from November 6, 2009 to November 13, 2009. It has a 2.5 percent margin of error.