Dresdner Bank, the German banking group owned by insurance giant Allianz, has offloaded a near €2bn ($2.5bn) worth of its North American loans - both performing and distressed - in the largest sale of non-strategic assets to date.

The sale - carried out by Dresdner's institutional restructuring unit over a six week period in November and December last year - means the bank has managed to cut its unwanted credit exposure by roughly half over the past year.