Allianz, Europe’s largest insurance group, on Friday scotched rumours of a high exposure to US subprime mortgage problems as solid third-quarter earnings in its core business outweighed another lurch into the red at its Dresdner Bank arm.

The German financial group said subprime-related writedowns of €575m ($844m) led to a net loss of €52m at Dresdner Bank and a €147m operating loss at Dresdner Kleinwort, its investment bank. At the group level, operating profit fell a lower-than-expected 2 per cent to €2.6bn on revenues up 1.8 per cent to €23bn.