"In the core bank, I would see no reason to assume the trend stopping that we have now seen for the last three quarters," Engels said on an analyst call on Thursday. The so-called core bank excludes the lender's large run-off portfolio of ailing assets for sale.

He said the right moment for providing a 2015 guidance was the bank's annual press conference in February.

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; editing by Thomas Atkins)