Monitise Americas LLC has signed on 10 banks nationwide in yet another indication that mobile banking and payments is gaining traction.

The mobile banking and payments provider, through the NYCE Payments Network, will deliver mobile financial services directly to consumers' mobile phones.

"Ubiquity is the name of the game," said Lisa Stanton, CEO of Monitise Americas, Milwaukee, WI. "No matter what your economic status is, you probably have a mobile phone. We think ultimately it'll be the most used channel. And we're targeting anyone who has a checking or bank account."

The banks using Monitise are California Business Bank, Los Angeles; First National Bank of LaGrange, LaGrange, IL; Gold Canyon Bank, Gold Canyon, AZ; Intrust Bank,Wichita, KS; and New Century Bank, Chicago.

The other new Monitise clients are Michigan Schools and Government Credit Union, Clinton Township, MI; PrimeSouth Bank, Waycross, GA; PyraMax Bank, Greenfield, WI; Seaside National Bank & Trust, Orlando, FL; and Summit Bank, Prescott, AZ.

These institutions will use the Monitise Americas service through NYCE's Mobile Financial Services offering.

Monitise uses existing financial services processor connections, such as the NYCE Network and prepaid platforms, to deliver mobile financial services directly to consumers' mobile devices.

The service allows institutions to offer a new way of banking to their customers without much investment in new technology communications, Monitize claims.

"We see it as mobile banking evolving into mobile payments," Ms. Stanton said. "That's when people start getting jazzed about it. [When it is] easy to check a balance, move money, initially providing all of that and then evolving into a way to facilitate payments, peer-to-peer transactions, reloading a Starbucks card."

The Monitise service is compatible across multiple mobile networks, so consumers are able to use it without switching handsets or carriers. Current services available include balance inquiries, funds transfers, mini-statements and text message alerts.

Monitise has engineered its platform specifically for the North American mobile banking and payments market with technology developed by Monitise for the Monilink service in Britain.

Monilink offers mobile banking and payment services to British customers of first direct, Alliance & Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank.

"For the coming year, we'd like to be one of the primary providers in the space and to become a global company," Ms. Stanton said. "Over time consumers will start to experiment with it. We will be able to serve under-banked peoples. Our vision is to serve the Net population.

"A lot of the reasons people choose which bank to bank with is convenience and [mobile] really levels the playing field," she said. "If you can allow the customer to bank anywhere they want to, that barrier of convenience is taken away."