According to preliminary results released on Thursday, Germany's second largest lender bolstered legal provisions by 198 million euros ($224.3 million) in its core business in the last quarter of 2014.

Discussions with U.S. authorities on ongoing legal issues had intensified, Engels said on a call with analysts.

"Based on these discussions there is a high probability that this might lead to an increase of further legal provisions which we are going to reflect in the final financial statement of 2014," he said.

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze and Thomas Atkins; Editing by Maria Sheahan)