The bank's 2023 profit crumbled to 91 million euros, compared with 187 million euros a year earlier, while provisions for loan losses shot up to 212 million euros from 44 million euros, figures on Thursday showed.

"We are well aware of the need to win back trust," the bank said.

PBB was borne out of a German government bailout during the financial crisis more than a decade ago and went public in an initial public offering in 2015. It then went on a lending spree in the United States, which is now suffering from high office vacancies and falling property prices.

PBB has become a visible sign of weakness in the financial industry stemming from a widening property crisis at home and the downturn in the United States, and is navigating what it has termed "the greatest real estate crisis since the financial crisis".

This year the bank's shares have fallen as much as 40% as short sellers bet against the bank, with one with one saying the bank risked being sucked into a "downward spiral". Its bonds have also come under pressure after PBB's rating was downgraded in February to a notch above "junk".

The bank has assured investors it has enough funds to cope with a major downturn in the U.S. commercial real estate market.

"PBB is in a far better position than its recent performance on the capital markets might suggest," it on Thursday.

The bank said it won't pay a dividend for 2023, but forecast 2024 profit to be "significantly higher".

"However, the overall situation remains challenging and PBB expects prices in the U.S. to decline further in the first six months of 2024, while price drops in Europe are likely to be more moderate, as in 2023," the bank said.

(Reporting by Tom Sims, Editing by Rachel More and Lincoln Feast.)