70 Billion More in Writedowns?

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS AG and other banks may post another $70 billion in writedowns should bond insurers lose their top credit ratings, according to Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney.

Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and UBS together stand to lose 45 percent of the total were Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's to cut the AAA credit ratings, Whitney said. The banks suffered $61 billion of the industry's $133 billion in losses from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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