SAO PAULO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Itau Unibanco (ITUB4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) (ITUB.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Brazil's largest private-sector bank by assets, expects default rates to fall to 4.5 percent in the second half of 2010 because of a rebound in Brazil's economy, Chief Financial Officer Silvio de Carvalho said on Tuesday.

Defaults should fall from about 5.9 percent expected for the fourth quarter of 2009 as an expected 5.5 percent growth in gross domestic product next year creates more jobs and increase workers' salaries, helping to reduce consumer credit defaults, he said. (Reporting by Elzio Barreto, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)