Mariano Rajoy, Spain's newly elected prime minister, selected a well-known former deputy finance minister and investment banker to spearhead his government's efforts to pull the eurozone's fourth-largest economy out of its worst crisis in decades.

Spain's new finance minister will be the 51-year-old Luis de Guindos, an economist who held various positions, including deputy finance minister, in the governments of conservative Prime Minister José María Aznar during the 1996-2004 period. Later, he headed investment bank Lehman Brothers in Spain, a financial-sector think tank and has been a frequent commentator in the local press.