Big banks are battling to get ahead of the technology disruption unfolding in the banking industry, with financial technology startups turning into red hot investments.

According to industry watchers, investors are pouring tens of billions of dollars into the sector, with more to come.

"Some of the world's major financial centers are equally becoming known as centers for FinTech innovation," Toby Heap and Ian Pollari, Partners at H2 Ventures and KPMG, financial technology service firms, said in a statement that accompanied a report listing the top 100 global financial technology leaders in 2015. "Fintech is clearly not to be ignored."

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Major banks are doubling down on adopting new technology for tech savvy consumers. Bank spending on new technologies was predicted to amount to $19.9 billion in 2017 in North America, according to The Statistics Portal.



"Customers now want to interact with their bank whenever they want, however they want, and wherever they want, and to be able to shift seamlessly between channels." said a global banking outlook study from advisory firm EY.