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Payments Processor eCommLink Inc.'s announcement this week that it has an agreement with Monitise Americas LLC to offer mobile-banking services to prepaid cardholders is part a strategy to make the processor more competitive globally, T. Jack Williams, eCommLink CEO, tells CardLine. "As a global processor, having a global mobile solution becomes one of the early checkpoints on your checklist," Williams says. Monitise Americas, which is a joint venture between Milwaukee-based Metavante Corp. and London-based Monitise PLC, is a good partner for Las Vegas-based eCommLink because it offers the opportunity to work with Monitise's offices around the world, Williams says. The agreement calls for Monitise and eCommlink to offer such services as loading cards, bill payments, and person-to-person funds transfers to prepaid cardholders, Williams says. The service also can support multiple cards, so consumers can use the mobile services to provide funds to children, for example, and track their spending, Williams says. The services will enable prepaid cardholders to do everything on their cell phones they could do with an Internet-banking site using a laptop, Williams says. The company plans to begin offering the services to prepaid card providers in the first quarter of 2009 to avoid "getting lost in the complexities of the Christmas season," Williams says.
