Monitise PLC has cleared the necessary regulatory hurdles to complete its acquisition of Clairmail Inc. officially on June 26, thus boosting the mobile-payment technology provider’s U.S. presence.
London-based Monitise will hold a June 25 general meeting to seal final details before the acquisition of Clairmail becomes official the following day with the trading of “relevant considerate shares” linked to the deal, the company announced in a June 8 notice.
Monitise first announced the merger deal with San Rafael, Calif.-based Clairmail in March (
The California Commissioner of Corporations on June 6 granted Monitise a permit “approving the fairness of the deal,” the last regulatory clearance the company needed to secure the acquisition, Monitise spokesperson Gavin Haycock tells PaymentsSource via email.
Monitise views the acquisition as a way for the company to establish a “mobile-money company of unprecedented scale in the U.S.,” according to the company’s general meeting notice.
Clairmail, a private company founded in 2004, specializes in mobile-banking and payment-software development for the U.S. market.
The Monitise meeting notice cited Clairmail as the mobile-banking provider for more than one-third of the top 50 U.S. banks, including PNC Financial Services Group Inc., SLM Corp. (Sallie Mae) and Fifth Third Bancorp. Clairmail’s 48 total customers represent service to 135 million consumers, Monitise added.
Alastair Lukies, Monitise Group chief executive, was enthusiastic about the pending deal when talking to industry analysts in March.
"Banks will continue to play a major role in the way consumers interact with financial services on their mobile phone," Lukies said during the analyst conference call. "We've seen an increasing level of interest in the inevitability of mobile payments.”
Consumers may use a mobile phone to send funds to someone in the same country or overseas, or they may use one at a point-of-sale terminal when Near Field Communication and other types of contactless payment become more prevalent, he added.
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