Whitney: Shares of Big Banks Will Drop 15 Percent

Banking analyst Meredith Whitney says her profit expectations for big banks are 30 percent below Wall Street expectations for a very basic reason: asset declines are everywhere.

“On average, lending portfolios are down four-to-20 percent, and we think they’re going to be down another 10-to-15 percent for all the big banks this year,” Whitney told CNBC.

“Your good borrowers don’t want to borrow, and your bad borrowers, you’re trying to kick out of the system.”

Higher capital levels mandated by impending banking law reforms are a given, Whitney says, which means lower returns for the banks. (more)