Good riddance – well, almost. After what Allianz hopes is a final plundering of its resources, the ghost of Dresdner Bank has been exorcised by the German insurer. The bank, which reported an €835m operating loss for the third quarter, has been sold in two tranches to Commerzbank in a deal that makes Allianz, with about 30 per cent, the dominant minority in the enlarged bank.

Allianz’s share price initially fell hard on Monday, as investors digested its trailed results. But it was not Dresdner that spooked them so much as the 11th hour change in the way Allianz accounted for its Commerzbank stake. Marking it to market would have highlighted the horror of the decline in the bank’s share price to €8, from €20 when the sale was struck. Allianz has instead taken a long-term – and coincidentally more flattering – view of its investment by booking its share of Commerzbank’s net asset value. This move more than halved the insurer’s third-quarter loss to €2bn.