4th Feb 2008 14:40
Monitise PLC04 February 2008 MONITISE AMERICAS CONTINUES TO EXPAND, WITH 20 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS NOW SIGNED ON TO OFFER ITS MOBILE PLATFORM THROUGH NYCE PAYMENTS NETWORK Community banks and credit unions join the ranks of larger financialinstitutions to offer mobile banking and payments to their customers and members London - Feb 4, 2008 - Monitise plc (MONI.L) welcomes the news that MonitiseAmericas, LLC, a leading mobile banking and payments provider, has announcedthat five additional financial institutions have signed agreements with NYCEPayments Network to provide mobile services to their customers and members.These new agreements bring to 20* the total number of financial institutionsthat have chosen the Monitise Americas solution for their mobile needs. NYCEPayments Network, LLC, is a leading U.S. debit card payments network and aMetavante (NYSE: MV) company. Metavante is a leading provider of banking andpayments technology. The signing of these agreements comes on the heels of 10 financial institutionsthat were announced earlier in January. The most recent institutions to offermobile banking and payment services from Monitise Americas and NYCE include:Commerce Bank of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.; Forest Park National Bank & Trust Co.,Forest Park, Ill.; Industrial Credit Union, Boston, Mass.; Patriot State Bank,Fuquay-Varina, N.C.; and Wedbush Bank, Los Angeles, Calif. Customers of the participating financial institutions will be able to checktheir account balances, view recent transactions, transfer funds and receivetext message alerts. Over the coming months many additional services - includingbill payment and person-to-person payments - will be introduced. "By partnering with Monitise Americas and NYCE Payments Network, we are able tooffer the most advanced services to our customers, enabling them to keep trackof their money whenever and wherever they require," said Scott Racusin,president and chief executive officer, Wedbush Bank. "By leveraging our existingconnection to the NYCE Network, we are able to offer a world-class level ofconsumer services today, with a clear line of sight to the future paymenttechnologies of tomorrow." Celent LLC estimates that by 2010, 30 percent of U.S. households that use onlinebanking - about 17 million - will use some form of mobile banking(1). Accordingto these numbers, the demand for services such as balance inquiries, fundstransfers, mini-statements and text message alerts will increase exponentially,as consumers increasingly demand a mobile "remote control" to their finances. "The ease with which financial institutions, regardless of their size, canintegrate our technology through the ATM switch will further drive growth in theadoption of mobile banking and payments," said Lisa Stanton, chief executiveofficer of Monitise Americas. "With relatively little technical effort orstart-up costs required to add this technology to their expanding set ofservices, as well as the convenience it provides to the consumer, financialinstitutions can immediately see a positive return on their investment." The Monitise Americas solution differentiates itself by leveraging existing ATMand point-of-sale network connectivity to deliver mobile financial servicesdirectly to consumers' mobile devices. This creates a scalable solution thatfinancial institutions can capitalize on regardless of their size, charter ormobile strategy. "Expanding our ATM/debit network to provide the rails for delivering a securemobile banking offer provides the enhanced security that issuers and consumersare looking for," said Steve Rathgaber, president and chief operating officer atNYCE. "Financial institutions are clearly seeing the benefits of providing a newaccess channel to their customers and members that enables them to bank where,when and how they want." Contacts: Monitise Group Tel: 020 7868 5200Duncan McIntyre, ChairmanAlastair Lukies, CEOBen Evetts, Head of Communications Financial Dynamics Tel: 020 7831 3113Harriet KeenHaya Chelhot About NYCE NYCE Payments Network, LLC, helps its clients grow with innovative new productsand strategic alliances that enable them to capitalize on the efficiency,consumer convenience and security of electronic real-time payments. The NYCENetwork provides consumers with secure, real-time access to their money,connecting the accounts of more than 74 million cards with 280,000 ATMs, and 1.5million point-of-sale locations nationwide. NYCE Balance Transfer (formerlyResponse Data Corporation) drives asset growth for consumer credit issuersthrough automated balance transfer/consolidation payment services. Headquarteredin Secaucus, N.J., NYCE Payments Network, LLC, (www.nyce.net) is a Metavante(NYSE: MV) company. About Monitise Americas Monitise Americas is a joint venture between Metavante Corporation, a leadingprovider of banking and payments technologies to financial institutions andbusinesses worldwide and Monitise plc (MONI.L), a specialist in mobile bankingtechnology. Monitise Americas provides mobile banking and payment services toNorth American financial institutions predicated on an "ecosystem" principle,which allows multiple mobile carriers and financial institutions to deliverservices over a single platform. It has a sister ecosystem in the UnitedKingdom, MONILINK, developed by Monitise plc in partnership with VocaLink.Current partners of MONILINK include: first direct, Alliance & Leicester, RoyalBank of Scotland, NatWest, Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Hutchison 3G. For more information on Monitise Americas and details of how to benefit fromparticipating in its cross-America ecosystem, please visitwww.monitiseamericas.com. About Monitise plc Monitise plc (MONI.L) is a specialist in mobile banking and payments technology.It has developed the world's first mobile banking ecosystems, which allowcustomers of multiple banks and mobile operators to perform banking and paymenttransactions directly from their mobile handset. With live services in the UK and the USA, where it has delivered the MONILINKand Monitise networks in partnership with VocaLink and Metavante Corporationrespectively, the company is currently working with international partners todeliver similar safe, secure mobile banking services in territories worldwide.Current key partners include VocaLink Interchange Network, Metavante, VisaEurope, BT Global Services, T-Systems, HSBC, first direct, Alliance & Leicester,Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Hutchison3G. Monitise was recognised as a 'Technology Pioneer' by the World Economic Forum in2006; 'Mobile Innovation of the Year' by The Banker Magazine in 2007 and;awarded the Innovation in Messaging award 2007 by the Mobile MessagingAssociation. www.monitisegroup.com Metavante and NYCE are registered trademarks of Metavante Corporation, which is the principal subsidiary of Metavante Technologies, Inc. * With the exception of one unnamed bank, the financial institutions offeringmobile banking and payment services through Monitise Americas have all beenannounced. These are: Harvard Employees Credit Union; North Jersey CommunityBank; Sutton Bank; Sutton Bank's Greenlink Payment division; California BusinessBank; Los Angeles, Calif.; First National Bank of LaGrange, LaGrange, Ill.; GoldCanyon Bank, Gold Canyon, Ariz.; INTRUST Bank, Wichita, Kan.; New Century Bank,Chicago, Ill.; Michigan Schools and Government Credit Union, Clinton Township,Mich.; PrimeSouth Bank, Waycross, Ga.; PyraMax Bank, Greenfield, Wis.; SeasideNational Bank & Trust, Orlando, Fla.; Summit Bank, Prescott, Ariz.; CommerceBank of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.; Forest Park National Bank & Trust Co., ForestPark, Ill.; Industrial Credit Union, Boston, Mass.; Patriot State Bank,Fuquay-Varina, N.C.; and Wedbush Bank, Los Angeles, Calif. (1) Celent, Mobile Banking Vendors: Tackling the Technology - DistributionTradeoff, Red Gillen, September 2007. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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