In addition, U.S. Bank announced it is engaging the Monitise Create team to transform the mobile user experience for credit cards, which serves both bank branded products and third-party relationships.

The new Monitise Create business in North America will focus on creating cutting-edge mobile technology to help its clients build rich customer relationships and uncover new revenue opportunities.

Monitise already works with more than 350 financial services companies and other leading businesses on banking, payments and commerce solutions. The expansion of its Monitise Create offering into the US will help brands, including financial institutions, drive deeper engagement from mobile initiatives and develop their business models. This builds on Monitise Create's proven success with more than 300 mobile app deployments for an award-winning client portfolio including Samsung, Procter & Gamble, Adidas and McDonalds, as well as many of the world's leading banks.

Alistair Crane, Executive Vice President of Monitise Create, who will lead the growing Monitise Create team based in North America, stated: "Mobile is fundamentally changing the relationship that every brand, particularly banks, has with a customer. Our mission is to create a long-term digital future by creating new front-end solutions and strategic business planning designed around existing processes. Doing this enables business transformation by leveraging clients' current technology and infrastructure and that creates increased engagement and new revenue opportunities."

In the case of U.S. Bank, a 2014 Bank Innovation Award winner, the Minneapolis-based business is working with the Monitise Create team to bring mobile innovation and strategy design services to help re-design the mobile experience for credit cards.

Dominic Venturo, Chief Innovation Officer of U.S. Bank noted: "It is clear that success in mobile requires constant innovation around the user experience as cconsumers demand easy-to-use and engaging experiences. We are partnering with Monitise Create to help us re-imagine the optimal user experience and believe implementing a highly differentiated mobile-first business and technology solution will provide us with a key competitive advantage."

Monitise Create's pure-play, mobile-only focus on strategy, development and design, coupled with a proven history of enabling success with on-time and on-budget mobile solutions, is appealing to global brands, mobile commerce providers, and financial institutions, in particular.

Lisa Stanton, President of the Americas at Monitise, added: "The relationship between a customer and their bank has been fundamentally changed by mobile. The growth of our mobile innovation capabilities demonstrates our continued and evolving focus on building end-to-end solutions for our clients and partners that enable them to manage the opportunities for their business models from digital disruption and leverage re-imagined business solutions through mobile as a revenue stream."

A recent study carried out by consulting firm AlixPartners found that nearly half of all consumers switch banks based on an institution's mobile banking services. Banks and other brands are coming under increasing pressure to address consumer expectations for a customer-centric, easy-to-use mobile experience. An established demand for standard features, such as balance inquiries and transfers via mobile, has evolved to encompass advanced integrated services like managing credit card rewards or home loan applications.