Dresdner Bank Might Leave Eastern Europe

In an effort to cut costs, Dresdner Bank is contemplating pulling out of eastern Europe, a company spokesperson said on Monday. Under review are subsidiaries in Poland, Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Although profitable, they don't strategically fit into Allianz's business activities in eastern Europe, the spokesperson said. Dresdner Bank itself is a subsidiary of Allianz, Germany's largest insurance company. Earlier, Bank Austria Creditanstalt, a subsidiary of HypoVereinsbank, had expressed interest in taking over Dresdner's eastern European business activities, the German daily Financial Times Deutschland reported. Spokespeople for Bank Austria and Dresdner Bank did not want to comment on the report.