Bloomberg, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, also reported on Tuesday that bonuses would be paid more selectively. The pool could change, depending on fourth-quarter earnings figures, the report said.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

Germany's largest lender paid bonuses worth 2.3 billion euros (£2 billion) for 2017, four times higher than the previous year, the bank said in its annual report.

Its top managers went without bonus payments for 2017 after the bank lost 735 million euros, the third annual loss in a row.

Deutsche Bank, which is expected to turn a profit for 2018, has vowed to pay competitive bonuses in an effort to keep staff from moving to rival firms.

(Reporting by Tom Sims, editing by Tassilo Hummel and Alexander Smith)