As consumer banking continues to falter, the wholesale banking sector is providing a major "bright spot" in the banking industry, according to TowerGroup, a Needham-based financial services research and advisory services firm.

The economic crisis has not had as great an impact on wholesale banking, according to the firm’s latest report.

TowerGroup reports that transaction services businesses of leading global banks averaged 22 percent annual revenue growth in 2008, and wholesale banking overall revenue growth of 11 percent. Though growth rates have begun to slow in 2009, these businesses continue to generate a significant portion of the profitability of commercial banks globally.

"Bank executives must determine how to guide their institutions through the deteriorating economic circumstances of this recession while also focusing on how to build their businesses for the new financial landscape that will follow," said Theodore Iacobuzio, research executive for payments and wholesale banking, at TowerGroup. "The reliability of the wholesale banking sector provides a critical business engine for stable revenue growth, an engine that will help drive institutions in the post-recessionary era, creating even greater business opportunities in the years to come."