Jean Pierre Mustier, who stepped down as chief executive at UniCredit last week, and the former boss of Bank of America's investment banking unit, Diego De Giorgi, have teamed up to join the boom in blank cheque companies that have raised close to $100bn over the past year.

Mustier, who only stepped down from UniCredit last week, will head up a special purpose acquisition vehicle focused on investments in the European financial services sector alongside De Giorgi. It will be backed by the alternative investment firm, Tikehau Capital, the firm said in a statement.