Spanish banking giant Banco Santander and Monitise, the struggling UK mobile money vendor, will launch a 50-50 joint venture later this year to back promising firms in the financial technology sector.

Monitise will benefit from a multi-million pound upfront licence fee, as well as any ongoing revenue generated by the initiative. It will also hope some of the startups later become its clients. Santander is an existing shareholder in Monitise, with a five per cent stake.

The proposed venture, whose name has not been released, aims to invest, build and then scale promising financial technology businesses. Santander will provide the support of the largest bank in the Eurozone, which also has a footprint in Latin America. The fintech startups will also have access to Monitise’s cloud-based platform.

The joint venture will be led by Julio Faura, a Santander executive, and chaired by Alastair Lukies (pictured), the founder and co-CEO of Monitise who stepped down following a strategic review earlier this year.

Both partners committed a maximum of £10 million to the venture over two years, dependent on the scale and nature of opportunities they find.