What happens when the best horse you were betting on becomes your primary Achilles Heel? It looks like, for CEO Josef Ackermann at least, investment-banking may turn out to be that horse. The challenge: to introduce other businesses without paying too much for them. For example, this one.

Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann is facing pressure from shareholders to buy a German consumer lender such as Deutsche Postbank AG, as losses at the securities unit mount.

The investment bank, led by Anshu Jain and Michael Cohrs, may post a second straight loss when the Frankfurt-based company publishes results tomorrow, analysts estimate. Deutsche Bank's second-quarter net income probably fell to 491 million euros ($766 million) from 1.78 billion euros a year ago, according to a Bloomberg survey of 19 analysts.

Ackermann pledged almost two years ago to rein in the reliance on the securities firm, which accounted for about 65 percent of pretax earnings in 2006, by expanding in consumer lending and money management. Since then, the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market led to $474 billion of credit losses and writedowns at financial institutions globally, including $7.7 billion at Deutsche Bank, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

"Deutsche Bank is still too dependent on investment banking," said Dirk Bartsch, who helps oversee about $620 million in financial stocks, including Deutsche Bank shares, at Cominvest Asset Management in Frankfurt. "It needs to expand the retail business, but it can't afford to overpay."

Second-quarter losses at the securities unit probably amounted to 154 million euros, analysts' estimates show. Writedowns on mortgage-related debt, securities backed by bond insurers, and loans for leveraged buyouts may total 1.76 billion euros, according to the median estimate of four analysts.

Deutsche Bank spokesman Armin Niedermeier declined to comment on the company's earnings or takeover plans.

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