A global alliance between IBM and Monitise aims to target banks and other financial institutions with cloud-based mobile money and payment services.

The latest deal is an extension of an existing agreement between the two companies from September 2013.

The idea is to enable financial institutions to target users with the kind of in-store engagement and location-based services that are much discussed in the retail sector.

IBM brings its MobileFirst initiative to the deal. MobileFirst makes industry-specific solutions for mobile devices. ‘Big Blue’ also offers its expertise in financial services and retail sectors.

Monitise’s contribution is mobile banking and payment skills.

This news follows an announcement last week that IBM and Apple will jointly develop industry-specific apps to load on iPhone and iPads, which IBM will then sell to corporate clients. Banking is one of a number of sectors targeted.