Deutsche Bank has apologised to Germans for its costly mistakes in the past with full-page ads in several German newspapers.

"Serious mistakes were made," reads the advertisement on Saturday, days after the lender announced an annual loss of 1.4 billion euros ($A2 billion) in 2016. "We would like to apologize for that."

"Since I became chief executive of Deutsche Bank one-and-a-half years ago, we have had to pay around five billion euros in legal cases largely originating from several years ago," chief executive John Cryan said in the ad.

Germany's biggest bank is still facing about 7000 separate lawsuits and regulatory cases, which analysts say could take years to resolve.

However the lender said that despite ongoing legal troubles it had managed to "end key legal cases."

In January Deutsche Bank agreed to pay a $US425 million ($A552 million) fine for failing to spot suspicious Russian trades.

Earlier in that month, the US Justice Department announced a $US7.2 billion settlement with the bank over allegations that the Frankfurt-based financial institution misled investors who bought mortgage-backed securities in 2006-07.

Deutsche is also facing legal action resulting from claims of manipulation of foreign exchange rates as well as gold and silver prices.