More than 150 financial in institutions have signed up for Monitise Americas’ mobile payments service, further evidence that mobile phones are  becoming an increasingly important aspect of consumers’ lives.

Monitise Americas’ services consist of real-time balance inquiries, mini-statements, account transfers, bill payments, and same-day payments delivered by a downloadable application, iPhone application or a secure browser. Also, 100 financial institutions have signed up for its text services, which include weekly balance texts and account updates delivered via SMS.

“A key factor in our success has been the ability to provide services to customers on any mobile network and any handset,” said Soren Bested, managing director of Monitise Americas, Providence, RI.

Monitise Americas is the home of Mobile Money, a fast growing banking and payments service. The company is focused on the delivery of mobile banking and payment services that cater to the needs of the mass market.

Financial institutions are accessing the Mobile Money Manager services through their relationships with FIS, one of the world`s largest providers of banking and payments technology, and NYCE, a leading U.S. electronic payments provider and an FIS company.

Consumers are upgrading their mobile phones roughly every 18 months.

Wireless subscribers are increasingly switching from basic handsets that handle mainly voice and text to sophisticated smartphones, such as iPhones and BlackBerry devices.

According to a recent Javelin report, 52 percent of the population will opt for a smartphone by 2014, and iPhone owners currently represent the largest segment of mobile banking users.

Monitise Americas recently announced that it now covers more than 2000 different types of handsets.

“We built our technology with the changing needs of the end-user in mind,” Mr. Bested said. “A customer can sign up for text message banking with their flip phone and then seamlessly upgrade to the full-service application without having to reregister.

“It`s the first truly intelligent triple-play mobile financial product.”