Generali Investments has won the approval of the Italian central bank to set up shop in the UK and Nordic regions and plans to hire staff in a bid to double its third-party assets to €30 billion.

Andrea Favaloro, the firm's global head of sales and marketing, who was shortlisted as business developer of the year in the 2015 Financial News Awards for Excellence in Institutional Asset Management, Europe, said he expected Generali's UK business to be based in London.