Telefónica appoints MasterCard chief to head financial services team

Operator group Telefónica has appointed a financial services veteran to lead up its Digital Financial Services unit. Pilar Aurrecoechea has been in the financial services sector for 25 years and will join the operator group’s innovation arm, Telefónica Digital, reporting into Vivek Dev, CEO of Digital Services. Aurrecoechea joins Telefónica from MasterCard where she was general manager for Spain and Portugal.

The operator group noted predictions from analyst house IDC Financial Insights forecasting that more than one trillion dollars will be spent globally using mobile devices by 2017. It said that for these reasons, Aurrecoechea has been recruited to lead the operator’s global efforts in this space, working with the team to build on the capabilities established over the past few years.

During Aurrecoechea’s 25 years years in the financial services sector, she worked for MasterCard, Visa Europe and American Express. Prior to her of country manager for Spain and Portugal at MasterCard, she was SVP, consulting director advisory services at Visa Europe and, before that, SVP, managing consultant continental Europe, also at Visa Europe.

Digital Services CEO Dev said that Aurrecoechea knowledge and experience in financial services will be crucial in helping Telefónica take its strategy in this area to the next level.

“From products through to partnerships and alliances, Pilar’s background in the sector will be a hugely valuable addition to the team.”

Aurrecoechea replaces Joaquin Mata Atance who joined the Board of Telefónica España as CTO.