Profit at German cooperative lender DZ Bank rose by nearly half last year, helped by a strong economy and fewer claims in its insurance business. DZ Bank, which acts as the central bank to Germany’s network of local cooperative lenders, said net profit rose 47 percent to 2.2 billion euros ($2.45 billion) as provisions for bad loans fell and fund arm Union Investment and insurer R+V Versicherung posted strong returns. In comparison, Deutsche Bank, the country’s largest bank that has been dogged by fines and legal settlements, achieved net of 1.7 billion euros last year. DZ Bank’s pretax profit rose by nearly 30 percent to a record 2.9 billion euros. But Chief Executive Wolfgang Kirsch said a reduction in one-off gains, continued low interest rates and increasing regulatory demands would contribute to an expected reduction in pretax profit to a range of 1.5 billion to 2 billion euros this year. Kirsch also said the group had considered a sale of its aircraft and ship financing unit DVB and had even held talks with Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi on a deal, though the discussions never reached an advanced stage. While DVB is not seen as central to DZ Bank’s business, there were currently no efforts to divest the unit, Kirsch said.