Recently-floated Virgin Money has struck a seven-year agreement with Monitise to develop a suite of digital, mobile banking services.
Virgin Money recently raised £312 million in an IPO that valued the company at £1.25 billion. The firm is promising to take on established banking institutions with a range of innovative products and an infrastructure unburdened by legacy technology.
Announcing the deal with Monitise, Virgin Money CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia says: “We are excited to be extending our quest for smarter, brighter and better banking solutions with a partner that shares our ambition to bring unique, intuitive and valuable service features to our customers. Mobile is an important banking channel that will help us maintain our growth momentum, and our partnership with Monitise and its network of partners will support us as we grow.”
Monitise’s Mobile Money network connects many organisations, including those from banking, payments, mobile and other sectors, to consumers via its Bank Anywhere, Pay Anyone and Buy Anything product suite. Monitise banking customers in the UK include, NatWest, HSBC, first direct and RBS.
Alastair Lukies, co-chief executive officer at Monitise, comments: “The Virgin brand is synonymous with success and ambition across all of the sectors it operates in, and banking is no different. There are significant opportunities ahead for Virgin Money in the digital space. We’re looking forward to supporting the bank across a number of exciting initiatives in its journey to transform the way consumers can manage their money.”
The deal with Virgin provides another boost for Monitise, coming on the back of a £49.2 million investment by Banco Santander, Telefonica and MasterCard.