Brussels, 20/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will not stand in the way of the creation of a joint e-commerce venture between Spanish telecoms company Telefónica and two Spanish banks, CaixaBank and Banco Santander, that will develop a virtual community for merchants and consumers in Spain providing services to its members, such as digital advertising and data analytics services to merchants, as well as digital wallet services, with peer-to-peer payment functionality to consumers. Following notification of the deal on 11 July, the Commission gave the go-ahead to the joint venture on 14 August under the EU merger control rules. The Commission's market investigation revealed that several competing digital wallet providers already exist or are very likely to emerge in Spain in the near future, ensuring an adequate competitive environment. (MD/transl.fl)