Monitise Regulatory News (MONI)

27 Nov 2008 09:00



27 November, 2008

MONITISE AMERICAS CONTINUES ITS EXPANSION AND ADDS NEW SERVICES TO ITS PLATFORM 

Monitise plc [MONI.L] today welcomed the recent news from Monitise Americas, its joint venture with Metavante Corporation, that it has added a number of new financial institutions to its platform, signed an agreement with eCommLink, a leading pre-paid card processor, and launched mobile bill payment services.

The three announcements demonstrate the exceptional performance of Monitise Americas since its launch in December 2007. Already available on three of the top four wireless carriers in the United States, the service is available across 200 different handsets, including BlackBerry. It has also recently expanded into Canada through its recent partnership with Everlink.

eCommLink supports the full array of prepaid debit card programs including general spend, payroll, corporate, gift, teen/family, travel and government agency cards. The partnership is a continuation of Monitise Americas strong penetration in the prepaid market segment and follows the recent deal with H&R Block, the world's largest tax preparation company, which has over 2.6 million pre-paid cards in issue across the United States. Furthermore, the availability of Bill Pay services demonstrates how existing Metavante services can be easily mobilised to consumers using the Monitise Americas mobile money platform.

"Mobile banking is in an explosive period of growth right now and we are seeing a dramatic increase in demand by consumers who want on-the-go access to their bank accounts," said Lisa Stanton, CEO, Monitise Americas. "Whether you're traveling for business and trying to manage your expenses, or are just away from your home computer and need to pay a bill, mobile financial services is becoming the must-have application."

The Monitise Americas' mobile money service is available as a downloadable application on JAVA or BREW and as SMS, allowing consumers to tailor the service regardless of whether they're using a smartphone or standard handset. In addition to bill pay, Monitise Americas' current product line includes balance inquiries, funds transfers, mini-statements and text message alerts. 

Alastair Lukies, chief executive, Monitise plc commented: "Monitise Americas continues to make exceptional progress and demonstrates the clear benefits of our model in providing a mass market service to a wide range of financial institutions and mobile operators, within the shortest possible timeframe.

"Furthermore, the flexibility of the platform means that we are bringing payments from the online to the mobile environment, ensuring that financial institutions can provide the services their customers demand over any channel they choose."

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About Monitise Americas

Monitise Americas is a joint venture between Metavante Corporation, a leading provider of banking and payments technologies to financial institutions and businesses worldwide and Monitise plc (MONI.L), a specialist in mobile banking technology. Monitise Americas provides mobile banking and payment services to North American financial institutions predicated on an "ecosystem" principle, which allows multiple mobile carriers and financial institutions to deliver services over a single platform. It has a sister ecosystem in the United Kingdom, MONILINK, developed by Monitise plc in partnership with VocaLink. Current partners of MONILINK include: HSBC, first direct, Lloyds TSB, Alliance & Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Hutchison 3G. Metavante Corporation is the principal subsidiary of Metavante Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:MV).

For more information on Monitise Americas and details of how to benefit from participating in its cross-America ecosystem please visit www.monitise.com

About Monitise plc

With live services in the UK and the USA, where it has delivered the MONILINK and Monitise networks in partnership with VocaLink and Metavante Corporation respectively, the Company is currently working with international partners to deliver similar safe, secure mobile banking & payment services in territories worldwide.

Current key partners include VocaLink, Metavante, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, first direct, Alliance & Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Hutchison 3G.

Monitise was recognised as a 'Technology Pioneer' by the World Economic Forum in 2006; 'Mobile Innovation of the Year' by The Banker Magazine in 2007 and awarded the Innovation in Messaging Award 2007 by the Mobile Messaging Association.

www.monitisegroup.com