Metavante, Monitise Americas Offer SMS Banking

Metavante (Milwaukee) and Monitise Americas (Providence, R.I.), a mobile payment joint venture between Metavante and Monitise plc (London), have launched text message banking services. According to the companies, the service will allow consumers to use text messaging to obtain balance information on their accounts at any time. It also enables consumers to set alerts, to notify them when their balance is low or when their payroll deposit has arrived. Metavante is the first provider to deploy the new technology from Monitise Americas.

Monitise says it has added text message banking to deliver financial information to all mobile phone users, regardless of the sophistication of their mobile devices.

Monitise Americas CEO Lisa Stanton said in a statement that the new text functionality could not have come at a better time as more people want immediate access to their financial status.

"Text alerts have become mainstream for many consumer services today. Many of us already receive news alerts on our mobile," said Stanton. "Especially in this economy, consumers have told us that they want immediate access to their financial information. Mobile financial alerts will allow consumers to manage their money anytime, anywhere, and I firmly believe that there is no better time to introduce this than now."