Now Deutsche Bank is freezing executive bonuses

Deutsche Bank is planning to freeze bonuses for all management board members, reports Reuters' Kathrin Jones.

The freeze is reportedly being enacted while a German regulator investigates the bank's role in the "Libor" interest rage rigging scandal.

Deutsche Bank in April reached a $2.5 billion settlement over accusations that it helped rig the London Interbank Offered Rate, a benchmark interest rate used around the world and calculated based on the interest rates set by all the major banks in London.

On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Deutsche Bank had lost records of internal chat conversations that may have played into the Libor probe.

The New York Department of Financial Services is looking into whether that lost data would have affected Deutsche Bank's Libor settlement, according to that report.

As for the bonus freeze, it will affect everyone on the management board except for the new CEO, John Cryan, the new CFO, Marcus Schenck, and the new head of retail banking, Christian Sewing, according to the Reuters report. It also applies to former board members who were eligible for 2015 bonuses.

Deutsche Bank also froze bonuses in 2014. Together, the freezes will account for some $17.7 million, Reuters reported.

The news comes at a messy time for the Frankfurt-based bank.

After failed attempts at restructuring, Deutsche Bank unexpectedly announced the departure of co-CEOs Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen in June. Jain has already stepped down, and Fitschen will remain as co-CEO with Cryan until May 2016, when he too will step down.

On Thursday, Deutsche Bank reported second quarter earnings that beat expectations, but Cryan said legal fees were "unacceptably high."

He criticised the bank's "continuing burden of heavy litigation charges, a balance sheet that must be more efficient, and the poor overall returns to our shareholders."

Read the full Reuters report here »