Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank abandon merger talks

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank announced Thursday that they would abandon merger discussions that started six weeks ago.

The banks said in statements that execution risks, restructuring costs and capital requirements from a deal would have outweighed the benefits.

A merger would have created a German national champion better able to compete with larger US rivals.

But the proposed deal faced pushback from labor unions, which worried about job cuts. And many market observers doubted a tie-up would have helped resolve longstanding problems at both banks.

More to come.