Allianz back in profit after 18-month losses

German insurer Allianz today said its troubled Dresdner Bank had contributed €102 million ($121 million) to the group's quarterly…

German insurer Allianz today said its troubled Dresdner Bank had contributed €102 million ($121 million) to the group's quarterly net profit to end 18 months of losses.

Europe's biggest insurer by sales said earlier this month it had managed to turn round Dresdner, raising investor hopes that the group will finally make money from its three-year old investment in banking.

Allianz revised the first-quarter net profit figure it gave earlier this month to €675 million from €650 million and confirmed it had quarterly premium income of €25 billion.

Chief Executive Mr Michael Diekmann, who took over last year, is pushing through a restructuring that includes thousands of job cuts at Frankfurt-based Dresdner Bank.
 
Allianz said the turnaround at Dresdner was mainly due to a 61.5 per cent decline in loan-loss provisions to €135 million and a reduction in operating expenses by 8.4 per cent to €1.35 billion in the first quarter.