Frankfurt - Germany's Commerzbank AG's shares fell sharply Monday after the Frankfurt-based bank agreed to pay 9.8 billion euros (14.4 billion dollars) to buy rival Dresdner.

While Commerzbank bank stock fell 7 per cent to 18.69 euros in early trading in Frankfurt, shares in Dresdner's parent, Allianz SE, slipped by about 1 per cent, as a result retracing some of the gains the giant insurer made last week.

The supervisory boards of Commerzbank and Allianz signed off on merging Germany's second and third biggest banks at separate meetings Sunday, as a result triggering a major reshaping of the country's fragmented banking business.

Frankfurt - Germany's Commerzbank AG triggered a major reshaping of the country's fragmented banking business Sunday when it agreed Sunday to pay 9.8 billion euros (14.4 billion dollars) to buy rival Dresdner.

Commerzbank and Allianz announced the agreement after their supervisory boards signed off on merging Germany's second and third biggest banks at separate meetings Sunday.

With total assets of about 1.09 trillion euros and 12.3 million German customers, forging a new merged Commerzbank-Dresdner bank will result in the emergence of new banking force in Europe's biggest economy.

Frankfurt - Germany's Commerzbank AG and Allianz SE are expected to announce Sunday a deal worth up to 9 billion euros (13 billion dollars) to sell the giant insurer's banking offshoot, Dresdner, to Commerzbank.

The supervisory boards of Allianz and Commerzbank are to meet Sunday and are widely predicted to sign off on a merger between the two banks, which would be the biggest restructuring in the German banking system in more than seven years.

Munich - Programs like Outlook and Thunderbird are useful for sending and receiving e-mail messages. Another option is to sign up for an e-mail account with one of the many services on the internet. All correspondence can then be handled fully online. The same services often offer a pay-version alongside the cost-free ones, promising extra functionality in the process. Are the extra services worth the cost?

Leipzig, Germany - Sony has announced plans to begin offering the Playstation 3 in a version with more memory for storage. The gaming console will be available with 160 Gigabytes (GB) of capacity starting on October 31. That represents a doubling of the console's storage space. The internet-ready units will cost 449 dollars, the manufacturer indicated at the recent Games Convention trade fair in Leipzig.

Munich - It may have sounded like science fiction 20 years ago, but it's now reality: computers listen to what you say.

Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 is the latest incarnation of Nuance's speech recognition software for PCs. And rival company Linguatec has announced the release date of the successor to Voice Pro 11 this autumn. That means that updated versions of the two key programs in voice recognition industry will be available in stores at the same time. But what are these programs really capable of, and who can benefit the most from them?