UK mobile money firm Monitise has launched its first apps for Android-based handsets. The apps, which the firm has launched in the US, offer a range of services including the ability to check an account balance, receive mini-statements, make money transfers and pay bills. The firm already offers apps for the iPhone and BlackBerry as well as J2ME apps for non-smartphones. In December, Visa launched an iPhone app that made use of Monitise’s technology. The UK firm has an established partnership with the payments giant which also holds a minority interest in it. In addition to apps, Monitise can also deliver banking services via secure brower, SMS and the USSD data channel. It is also involved with partner Vivotech in offering NFC solutions to banks in the US.

The new apps offer “fast and convenient” financial control to Monitise’s bank clients’ customers, says chief executive Alastair Lukies. The company will use the apps to deliver its Globe platform that allows financial institutions to provide their services to customers. Lukies says it has “more than 250” financial institutions among its clients and “more than three million users” of its mobile money services globally.