Lloyds TSB rumours: Scottish Widows swap for Allianz’s Dresdner Bank

by Gill Montia

Story link: Lloyds TSB rumours: Scottish Widows swap for Allianz’s Dresdner Bank

Allianz’s auction of its German banking division is reported to be attracting a bid from Lloyds TSB.

In March of this year, Munich-based Allianz restructured its Dresdner Bank subsidiary, which includes investment division Dresdner Kleinwort, in preparation for a sale.

Allianz acquired Dresdner Bank in 2001 and while the latter’s private and corporate business has produced sound results since the advent of the credit crisis, writedowns by Dresdner Kleinwort have dented Allianz’s profit.

Dresdner is one of the larger retail banking operations in Europe and the price tag for the entire business could exceed £8 billion.

However, Lloyds’ intentions over Dresdner Kleinwort are not clear and it is rumoured that a deal could include Allianz taking over Lloyds TSB’s Scottish Widows life assurance business in exchange for Dresdner’s retail operations only.

The credit crisis has left Lloyds TSB relatively unscathed and the bank is known to be seeking to benefit from the current decline in banking valuations in Europe and the US.