Dresdner, the loss-making bank owned by German insurer Allianz, has disposed of a further €1.4bn ($1.7bn) of bad and non-core loans. It wants to cut exposure to nothing by the end of next year and still has €17bn to go.

The sales were carried out by Dresdner's institutional restructuring unit, which is also loss-making, during the first three months of the year. It means Dresdner's portfolio of unwanted and non-performing loans stands at about €17bn, compared with €18.4bn at the end of last year.