Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) is responding to one of the investment banking industry's worst quarters by testing potential overlaps between its debt and equity businesses.

The bank, which became part of Allianz after the insurer bought Dresdner last year, has set up a task force to investigate potential &quotsynergies&quot between its debt and equity businesses, two areas that are usually kept separate in investment banks.