Monitise Mobile Bank Sale Talk Progressing

After posting another six months of revenue and profit loss, mobile banking company Monitise is in talks with potential suitors looking to buy the company and integrate its services, according to Reuters.

For the six months ending Dec. 31, Monitise reported that its losses continued to widen. Revenues dropped 8.8 percent to $65.1 million, while EBITDA is in the red by $47.2 billion as it continues to adjust to a new business model driven by mobile banking. Despite the widening losses, Monitise Chairman Peter Ayliffe insists that the company can become EBITDA profitable by the end of 2016, and has hinted at discussions Monitise has had about finding partners to get them to that point.

“The announcement of our strategic review has led to many constructive discussions with market-leading players interested in our business and the role we play in the industry,” Ayliffe told Finextra. 

As of 2 p.m. EST on Feb. 17, Reuters reported that Monitise had struck a deal with an “unnamed financial institute” for its digital banking services. With this deal, it is possible that Monitise will be able to expand its digital banking to multiple countries. This would be a partnership like the one it agreed to with MoneyPass on Jan. 15 that enables the company to expand its Mobile Money services to card issuers in the United States.

Other reported suitors may come from a variety of areas that may suit Monitise’s business aims, such as card network providers, software vendors, and system integrators, though, according to Jefferies analyst Milan Radia, Monitise’s existing partnerships with IBM may make that sector off-limits to other suitors. Some speculators think that MasterCard, which Monitise also has an existing relationship with, may be in the running, as well as Visa, whose European operations were once headed by Ayliffe.

Neither card company got back to Reuters for comment on the subject.