MasterCard Monday announced the intention to enter into a commercial agreement with Monitise PLC to accelerate the development and deployment of mobile wallets and digital payment solutions by financial institutions worldwide. MasterCard also intends to make a minority investment in Monitise.

The combination of MasterCard and Monitise's complementary expertise in developing mobile platforms for commerce and banking is anticipated to result in additional innovative and secure solutions, MasterCard said in a press release.

"For more than a decade, MasterCard has driven the development of mobile commerce — including the world's first contactless and mobile payments solutions," Ed McLaughlin, MasterCard's chief emerging payments officer, said in a statement. "Our partnership with Monitise builds upon a shared commitment to improve the mobile shopping experience today and into the future."

Monitise works with more than 350 banks and financial institutions, merchant partners and payment processors including Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyd's Banking Group, U.S. Bank, HSBC, Telefónica and FIS, serving 28 million registered users worldwide. On an annualized basis, the company processes 3.5 billion transactions and the value of payments and transfers initiated by its technology platform is over $70 billion.