Munich - Europe's biggest insurer Allianz AG reported Wednesday a more-than-40-per-cent fall in first-quarter earnings amid the deepening global economic crisis. Releasing the figures at its annual shareholders' meeting, Munich-based Allianz said it booked a first-quarter operating profit of 2.2 billon euros (2.9 billion dollars) compared to 1.3 billion euros in the same period last year.

This was despite revenue rising from 27.0 billion euros to 27.7 billion euros.

However, Allianz incurred charges of about 400 million euros resulting from the sale of its banking offshoot Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank in January.