On the web:

• Mobile Payments: 8 Awesome Ways to Pay with Your Phone - TheNextWeb
• Pay-by-Phone Parking: No quarters, but Hidden Costs? - MSNBC.com
• Monitise brings mobile payments to Nigeria - Real Business
• Mobile payments: How safe are they? - The Oregonian
• Paymentwall’s In-Game Payment Options Gain a Good Following - VentureBeat
• In a Surprising Twist, Reloadable Prepaid Not As Durbin-Proof As Originally Thought - Digital Transactions

On the wires:

• AsiaPay Expands its Payment Services and Technologies to Malaysia
• Chase and United Unveil United MileagePlus Explorer Card
• FICO and Círculo de Crédito Bring Credit Scores to Mexican Lenders
• TxVia Completes Certification to Process Payment Cards Using the Discover Network

The Mobile Money Exchange has a great visual tool that nicely illustrates the proliferation of mobile money deployments around the world.

This tool was originally developed by the GSMA Mobile Money for the Unbanked team (covering the countries under their remit) and has been extended to include all worldwide mobile money deployments.

Monitise has announced that it has joined forces with ViVOtech to deliver mobile phone payments services to banks across the United States.

The partnership means customers of participating banks will be able to turn their handset into a mobile wallet (linked to registered bank accounts, credit and debit cards) and purchase items using contactless payments at merchants with NFC capabilities.

Monitise has announced its enhanced technology platform which "incorporates a range of mobile banking and payment services to deliver fast, secure financial management by mobile phone across the world. The platform enables financial institutions, mobile phone networks, service providers, payment companies and processors to offer a wide variety of Mobile Money services in both developed and emerging markets." READ MORE »

Monitise Americas has announced that PyraMax Bank has launched an iPhone app powered by its technology. According to Monitise, "the release heralds a turning point in the mobile banking industry. Until now, bank-branded iPhone applications have been the privilege only of big-spending, large banks. However, thanks to its world-class technology, Monitise Americas can now build iPhone apps quickly and cost effectively, enabling mobile banking for many more financial institutions than previously possible." READ MORE »

Visa and Monitise have announced the formation of a joint venture to provide a technology platform for financial institutions and mobile network operators in India to offer a range of mobile financial services to consumers. The companies said that "the new company will combine Visa’s expertise in enabling secure, globally interoperable financial transactions with Monitise’s know-how in developing mobile financial technology for a broad range of handsets." READ MORE »

Travelex has announced an agreement with Monitise to launch mobile services for its 1.75m global Cash Passport cardholders. Cash Passport, a prepaid travel money card available in seven currencies, offers a secure and convenient way to carry money overseas. Cardholders can use their Cash Passport to pay for things and withdraw cash, just as they would with any other card, but without charges for use overseas.

Travelex and Monitise are developing an application which can be downloaded to the cardholder’s handset, allowing them to check their balance at any time, reload the card by mobile and also set up other alerts. The service will launch next year with a low balance alert, reminding cardholders to reload. READ MORE »

Monitise Americas has announced the launch of its Mobile Money application on the App Store. According to the company, "Mobile Money gives iPhone and iPod touch users simple access to their account information using a dynamic application that is easy to navigate and safe to use. Mobile Money is a leading global solution for mobile banking and payment services. It is the world's first mobile banking ecosystem, empowering consumers to perform banking and payment transactions using a single consistent interface -- regardless of choice of mobile operator." READ MORE »

Visa has announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Monitise plc "to facilitate the delivery of Visa mobile payments and related services to consumers around the world. Concurrent with the strategic alliance, Visa has agreed to make a minority equity investment in Monitise, subject to Monitise shareholder approval."

The Wall St. Journal is reporting that "Monitise said Visa has agreed to take a 14.4% stake" for $13 million. READ MORE »

NYCE has announced that it will offer balance inquiries by text message to its financial institution participants as a standard feature of full participation in the NYCE Network. The service will be powered by Monitise Americas. READ MORE »

The Carphone Warehouse, one of Europe's mobile phone retailers, and Monitise have announced a partnership "that will bring mobile financial services to millions of people at a time when they most need it. The alliance covers a wide variety of initiatives ranging from the pre-seeding of Monitise’s patented mobile money application on leading handsets, to 'in store' and 'online' promotions and incentives for consumers to get linked up to their money 24/7." READ MORE »

Monitise Americas and Metavante have announced the launch of text message banking services - allowing consumers to use text messaging to obtain any-time balance information on their accounts. The service also enables consumers to set alerts, to notify them when their balance is low or when their payroll deposit has arrived. READ MORE »

Monitise Americas has announced new research results finding that "Americans are increasingly demanding 'always on' information about their money, with 77% saying that it was important for them to have real-time and immediate information regarding their bank and credit card accounts." READ MORE »

Monitise and NatWest have announced a commission-free international mobile phone payment transfer service between the bank's customers’ current accounts in the UK and their PKO BP accounts in Poland. READ MORE »

eCommLink and Monitise Americas have announced that they are working together to jointly offer mobile money applications to the prepaid debit card industry. READ MORE »

Monitise Americas has announced that 23 additional financial institutions have signed agreements with Metavante to provide mobile services to their customers and members. READ MORE »

In the latest in his podcast series, Dave Birch interviews Alistair Lukies, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Monitise. Lukies talks about some of Monitise's recent partnerships including one with Carphone Warehouse to mobile-enable an open loop prepaid card in the UK and another with Made in Africa to mobile enable banking services in east Africa. If you're interested in mobile financial services, you'll enjoy this podcast!

In the UK, Monitise and Metavante have announced that they are working with Carphone Warehouse to launch a “mobile money” scheme that includes the introduction of a Carphone Warehouse prepay card managed directly from the mobile phone that can be used to shop in millions of outlets worldwide. READ MORE »

Monitise Americas has announced that "five additional financial institutions have signed agreements with NYCE Payments Network to provide mobile services to their customers and members. These new agreements bring the total number to 20 financial institutions that have chosen the Monitise Americas solution for their mobile needs."

Monitise has announced the launch of MoniTrust, a platform for Near Field Communication (NFC) payments and ticketing.

Monitise Americas has announced that its partner, the NYCE Payments Network, has signed agreements with ten new financial institutions to utilize mobile financial services powered by Monitise Americas. READ MORE »

NYCE Payments Network has announced it will offer mobile banking and payments services to financial institutions — calling it "the first commercially available service from a U.S. debit card payments network." Monitise Americas and NYCE's parent, Metavante, have signed an agreement through which NYCE will deliver the Monitise Americas platform directly over its existing network architecture.

Monitise has announced its current global product suite for 2008 - saying that its "new range of services have been developed by Monitise on the basis of the requirements of its key partners and its view of the expanding demands of the consumer in this rapidly developing market space."

Monitise plc and Metavante have announced the formation of a joint venture company, Monitise Americas LLC, to pursue building a mobile banking and payments ecosystem for the United States. Plans for the joint venture were originally announced by the companies in March 2007.

Metavante has announced the "signing of a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture with Monitise, a European provider of secure mobile banking and payments capability, to operate a mobile payments system in the United States."