Goldman, Morgan Stanley May Be Next MF Global: Roubini

Famed NYU economist Nouriel Roubini made his name back in 2005 after accurately predicting the U.S. housing market was a ticking time bomb that was fast approaching detonation time. His pre-2008 prediction of the nastiest global recession since the 1930s was also spot on.

The accuracy of those predictions in a time when many across Wall Street scoffed is why Roubini's remarks about which large firm may be the next MF Global are particularly alarming.

"What happened to MF Global could happen to Jeffries, Barclays, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley," Roubini tweeted Monday. "Leverage and maturity mismatch can lead to runs."

In a series of tweets Monday, Roubini said the government could be forced to bail out systemically important companies once again. He also call the broker-dealer model into question, arguing that many are still highly leveraged, and suggested that runs are a distinct possibility if confidence craters the way it did in 2008.

"Broker dealers still very levered a lil less than before, & have a huge maturity mismatch: so a large loss reduces capital & leads to a run," Roubini tweeted.

He added that JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup are at less risk to the consequences of a run because of the insured deposits at their retail operations.