While some of the fear in the marketplace has gone away, unemployment will get worse and companies' balance sheets are still a long way from where they need to be, BlackRock Inc. (BLK) Chief Executive Laurence Fink said Tuesday.

Speaking at Citigroup Inc.'s (C) 2009 Financial Services Conference at the Waldorf Astoria in Midtown Manhattan, Fink also said a lot of the U.S. government's Troubled Asset Relief Program has been a "failure."

"A lot of parts of TARP did not work," Fink said. "The main reason is it did not stabilize balance sheets."

The unemployment problem, Fink said, will be "much more severe than people think," and could top out at around 10%.

When will we know things are getting better? According to Fink, the equity markets won't stabilize until companies have stabilized their assets.

Fink who co-founded BlackRock in 1989, is well-regarded on Wall Street and has been considered for the top spots at both Morgan Stanley (MS) and Merrill Lynch.

-By Joseph Checkler, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4297; joseph.checkler@dowjones.com

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