Who was the one Wall Street analyst that figured out the banking crisis and had the guts to go public with her thoughts? The result may surprise you: Meredith Whitney.

Initially, no one knew how big the banking crisis would be. Now, we know the projected bailout will be in the area of $700 billion. Personally, I can’t comprehend that much money in a single transaction. But there was one person who saw this crisis coming and had the nerve to say so.

Bank analyst Meredith Whitney was the first to make the call. I remember watching Meredith a few years back when she was on Fox’s Bulls and Bears stock show. Meredith more than held her own with the likes of Toby Smith, Gary B., Pat Dorsey and others. Let’s not forget that Meredith met her current husband, WWE wrestling star John “JBL” Layfield, while on the show. Now, Meredith has garnered the type of name recognition usually reserved for celebrity types.

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According to Oppenheimer Investments, here is how the events unfolded for Meredith’s market call:

  1. She was the first analysts to discuss the impact of subprime loans on banks and that homeowners were in over their heads due to such instruments as interest-only mortgages, etc.;
  2. She predicted that Citigroup would be forced to cut its dividend as Citi management denied this report;
  3. She then forecasted more write-downs at Bank of America, UBS and Lehman Brothers;
  4. She tells her clients to stay away from banks as this will be the biggest financial crisis in history.

Now we know that Whitney was spot-on for each of these market calls. Meredith continues to warn that the relationship between banks and rating agencies during the real estate bubble will have a lasting impact on banks’ ability to fully recover.

Meredith should be commended for having the courage to go against Wall Street and make a very difficult call. She was out-on-a-limb that could have cost her job if she was wrong. I don’t recall Henry Blogett having this kind of courage in 2000. The banks often refute any negatives calls and try to discredit the analyst involved.

The critics will continue to challenge Meredith’s creditability in the near future. But for now, she wears the crown of “Queen of Wall Street.”