It appears we now have an answer - and that answer is 'no'.

According to the Financial Times, DB's plan to drastically shrink its investment banking division will not only drive the perennially imperiled German banking giant to a net loss this year (after it barely squeaked out a profit last year) and cost as much as €5 billion ($5.65 billion), according to three sources.

That's equivalent to roughly one-third of the bank's market cap.

The FT report was published one day after WSJ reported that the bank is in talks with several US rivals, including Citigroup, to sell off much of its US investment-banking business. The bank has also said it plans to lower its common equity tier-one ratio to free up more cash - but whether regulators will tolerate this remains to be seen.