The combined entity will have equal ownership, with each party holding 50% and sharing governance and control.

The boards of directors at Italian insurer Generali and French banking group BPCE are likely to give green lights on Monday to a tie-up of their asset management businesses, three sources close to the matter said.

With over €1.9 trillion of assets under management ("AUM”), the combination would create a global asset management platform with leading positions and critical scale in both Europe and North America. The combined business would rank #1 by revenues and #2 by AUM in Europe, #9 by AUM globally, and #1 in insurance asset management by AUM worldwide 6.

Generali and BPCE have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a joint venture between their respective asset management

French banking group BPCE and Italian insurer Generali have reached an agreement to combine their asset management businesses, a move that will create a €1.9tn behemoth. The two groups said on 21 January that they had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to create a joint venture, with each owning 50% as part of a 15-year contract.

The board of Italy's top insurer Generali has approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that paves the way for an asset management deal with BPCE's Natixis Investment Managers to crate a European champion,

With €1.9tn in AUM, the joint venture would allow the pair to expand globally and speed up a push into private markets.

Under the terms of the tie-up, BPCE and Generali Investments will combine their asset management operations in a 50-50 joint venture, people familiar with the situation said. A non-binding preliminary agreement could be reached as early as next week. It would still need to be approved by the relevant unions and authorities.

Italy's Generali and France's BPCE said on Tuesday they had taken the first step towards creating Europe's largest asset manager by revenue as the industry bets on size to protect profit margins. The