MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's UniCredit (>> UniCredit SpA) said on Wednesday Chairman Giuseppe Vita and three of its top executives will meet on June 1 to discuss the selection of a specialist headhunter recruitment firm to help it find a new chief executive.

Italy's biggest bank by assets said on Tuesday its Chief Executive Federico Ghizzoni would step down and asked Vita to start the succession process.

Candidates tipped for the job of CEO include Frenchman Jean-Pierre Mustier, a former Societe Generale (>> SOCIETE GENERALE) and UniCredit executive, UBS's (>> UBS Group AG) investment banking boss, Andrea Orcel, and Merrill Lynch's (>> Bank of America Corp) Italy chief, Marco Morelli.

(Reporting by Francesca Landini)