Boston Medical Center and Tufts Medical Center have called off their merger talks aimed at what would have been the biggest alliance of two hospitals in the hospital-rich city in nearly two decades.

The Boston Globe reported that they couldn’t overcome “differences in culture, mission, and strategies for the future.”

“Culture always trumps strategy,” Ellen Lutch Bender, president of the consulting firm Bender Strategies LLC, told The Globe.

However, officials said that the two institutions remain open to future collaborations.