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Bloomberg Cultural risks are the greatest challenge to a successful merger of BB&T Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc., according to Wells Fargo & Co. analyst Mike Mayo. “The ability to manage this and other risks can make an estimated $10 billion difference in the new firm’s market value,” Mayo said in a note to investors. The combined company must work …

Bloomberg Switzerland is proposing bigger capital cushions for the country’s top banks that could force UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG to set aside an additional 24 billion Swiss francs ($24 billion) in reserves. The Finance Ministry is weighing an amendment to capital adequacy rules to try to ensure that the parent companies of systemically important banks are …

Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG’s merger talks have prompted rare unity across Germany’s fractious political spectrum: a collective thumbs down. Lawmakers from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led bloc to the anti-capitalist Left party and far-right AfD are laying into the plans. With the Social Democratic colleagues of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz also questioning the deal, the project’s main …

Bloomberg The Spanish government won final approval for an emergency decree boosting tenants’ rights at the expense of landlords less than four weeks before a general election. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist administration prevailed 33 votes to 31 at the parliamentary panel that can confirm or revoke legislation when the full plenary is out of session. The measures, negotiated with …

Bloomberg Ethiopian Airlines Group is reconsidering its order for 25 additional 737 Max jetliners from Boeing Co, in part because of the “stigma’’ surrounding the aircraft involved in two fatal air disasters in five months — one of them an Ethiopian Airlines flight. Tewolde GebreMariam, the state-owned carrier’s chief executive, spoke in an interview with Bloomberg News a day after …

Bloomberg Just like some millennials, the new Sears is counting on a hand from their parents. Baby boomers are the ticket to luring in the coveted group of young consumers, who are currently in the process of starting households and loading up on appliances, beds and other staples, according to Peter Boutros, the company’s chief brand officer and president of …

Bloomberg Tennis star Naomi Osaka surprised industry watchers by signing an endorsement deal with Nike Inc, switching from the US sports brand’s biggest rival, Adidas AG. The sports world had been anticipating that Adidas would pay a record sum to renew a clothing endorsement with No. 1-ranked Osaka, who seized global media attention by defeating Serena Williams at the US …

Bloomberg Alarmed at Amazon.com’s rapid growth in Europe, grocers are considering fighting back with the help of a tiny Portuguese startup. Sensei, a 16-month-old technology company based in Lisbon that’s backed by Germany’s Metro AG and Portugal’s Sonae SGPS SA, is pitching its technology to European supermarkets as they race the e-commerce giant to open the region’s first checkoutless stores. …

DUBAI / Emirates Business The UAE’s non-oil private sector has maintained a solid monthly improvement, according to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) issued by Emirates NBD. The improvement in business conditions reflected sharper increases in output, new orders and stocks of purchases, as well as a return to job creation. These all in some way were linked to anecdotal …

Dubai / WAM Start-ups and other young companies can provide around 50 percent of all new job prospects in the market at the seed stage and those operating for two and a half years hiring an average of 12 workers. Several reports reveal that start-ups generate significant employment opportunities globally, helping drive immense economic growth prospects. The role of start-ups …