Italy's Generali (BIT:GASI) and France's Natixis Investment Managers are set to join forces to create a new European asset manager overseeing €1.9 trillion ($1.979 trillion).

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.

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

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,