The largest bank merger in more than a decade took less than 6 months to complete as both banks came to the table with complete buy-in for the deal; BB&T had previously tried to hold merger talks with SunTrust but they were not interested until this deal was done; technology, bank and nonbank competition and the potential benefits of scale were the top reasons for the deal; the two executives help talks on numerous occasions and both agreed that the venture needed to be an evenly distributed joint effort; the merger is expected to close in the fourth quarter with $301 billion in loans and $324 billion in deposits. Source.
