Dresdner Bank, a subsidiary of insurer Allianz, reported that pre-tax profits in the first half fell by 12.7 per cent to €616 million euros owing to weakness on financial markets and a rise of costs.

But net profit rose by 44 per cent from the equivalent figure last year owing to a reduction of 97.2 per cent in the tax charge as a result of tax cuts at the beginning of the year.

The net figure also included a capital gain of €300 million from the sale of shareholdings owned by the bank.

Dresdner Bank, the third-biggest private German bank which has been bought by Allianz, suffered along with other German banks from weakness on global financial markets.

In addition, administrative costs rose by 18.6 per cent on a 12-month comparison to €4.4 billion owing largely to consolidation of Wasserstein Perella, a small US investment bank acquired last year.