Time to scratch that seven-year itch. This weekend Allianz, the German insurer, should agree the sale of Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank, drawing a line under a rocky affair with bancassurance. The rumoured price, €9bn, represents a decent gain on a sum-of-the-parts basis: the bank is in the Allianz share price at €6.8bn, according to JPMorgan.

But it is hard to put a gloss on an asset that has caused its parent nothing but grief since it was bought for €24bn in 2001. Does this spell doom for the bancassurance model? The idea that banking and life assurance can be combined in a mutually beneficial relationship periodically bewitches executives round the world. The bank’s branch network provides the buyers, the life assurance company the product, and together the two make hay.