CNBC : A surge in borrower defaults and unemployment pressures will make 2009 an even uglier year for banks than last year, analyst Meredith Whitney said.
Whitney, a former analyst at Oppenheimer who recently opened her own firm, is renowned for calling out the problems with banks’ toxic assets before the issue became widespread.
She predicted "breakups and M&As on a grand scale" as the industryseeks to remake itself in the face of all its capital pressures.
"I don’t think this year is going to look any better than last year," Whitney said in an interview Tuesday on CNBC. "In fact it will look worse because there’s so much credit coming out of the system."
Whitney predicted that some of the largest institutions will be remadethis year in a way not seen before. Those mergers and acquisitions willsee companies come together to create unique syynergies.
