Aite surveyed 141 senior banking IT executives in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea) and North America and found sharply different levels of satisfaction with technology.

Respondents from North America are uniquely dissatisfied - wherever significantly higher levels of dissatisfaction were found with a technology, the vast majority of such sentiment was held by bankers from this region. Big data is a particular sore point, invoking dissatisfaction among 76% of North American bankers, compared to just 47% of Emea bankers and 32% of Asia-Pacific bankers.

The most positive attitude to technology is found in Asia Pacific, where bankers are far more likely to invest in technologies - such as multichannel integration, corporate mobile banking, and small-business online banking - with which they are already satisfied.

Bankers in this region are also more interested in technology for its ability to deliver a competitive advantage or innovation. Among Asia-Pacific bankers, 69% view technology as a source of competitive advantage, a far higher percentage than the 43% of North American bankers who do so.

Trade finance is a pain point for bankers in Emea. Servicing customers with trade in a variety of markets using a patchwork of payment standards, 38% of bankers in the region are dissatisfied with their trade finance capabilities, far higher than the nine per cent expressing such sentiment in the Asia-Pacific.

"Although banks across the globe all gather deposits, book loans, and manage risk, our research shows that they vary widely in their approaches to technology," says David O’Connell, senior analyst in Wholesale Banking at Aite Group. "Such differences are driven by local cultures, competitive pressures, and varying experiences during and following the recent global financial crisis."