Telefónica has signed an agreement with Spanish banks Santander and CaixaBank to create a mobile joint venture.

The joint ventures remit is to “develop new business opportunities based on the latest mobile and communication technologies”, which Telefónica says has the potential to reach more than 600,000 businesses in Spain alone.

Its first project will be the creation of an online community for retailers to deliver offers, discounts and promotions to consumers, followed by a digital wallet with P2P mobile payment functionality, which will only require users to have the recipients phone number.

“We are at a crucial moment in the market that offers excellent opportunities to develop innovation projects,” said Enrique García Candelas, senior executive vice president of Santander Retail Banking in Spain. “Uniting the efforts and the experience of three leading companies, we will be able to contribute to making the search of offers, selection of products and purchases more beneficial to both retailers and consumers.”