GE Capital is the financial services unit of the American conglomerate General Electric. It provides commercial lending and leasing, as well as a range of financial services for health care, media, communications, entertainment, consumers, real estate, and aviation. It has a number of divisions, including GE Real Estate, GE Capital Aviation Services, GE Energy Financial Services and GE Commercial Lending & Leasing.
GE Capital focuses primarily on loans and leases that it underwrites to hold on its own balance sheet rather than on generating fees by originating loans and leases, then selling them to third parties. Most of GE Capital's commercial loans are to small and mid-sized companies, spread across multiple industries and geographies and secured by tangible assets. More than 70% of GE Capital’s loans are under $100 million. GE Capital's consumer lending activities are also diversified by product and geography and include operations in 55 countries.
Overview
On July 8, 2013, the Financial Stability Oversight Council designated GE Capital as a "systemically important financial institution", which makes it subject to oversight by the Federal Reserve.
As of 2014, GE Capital had 35,000+ employees worldwide, operating in more than 40 countries, with total assets of US$499 billion. It was rated AA+ with stable outlook by S&P in 2012.
GE Capital's subsidiaries also operate under the GE Money brand.
Restructuring plan
On April 10, 2015, Jeffrey R. Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, announced that G.E would sell most of GE Capital over the next two years. In the statement announcing their intentions, Immelt said "This is a major step in our strategy to focus GE around its competitive advantages. GE today is a premier industrial and technology company with businesses in essential infrastructure industries. These businesses are leaders in technology, the Industrial Internet and advanced manufacturing. They are well-positioned in growth markets and are delivering superior customer outcomes, while achieving higher margins. They will be paired with a smaller GE Capital, whose businesses are aligned with GE’s industrial growth.â€
Operations
Czech Republic
GE Money Bank (formerly GE Capital Bank) is one of the largest financial institutions in the Czech Republic. It is a full-service bank with an extensive network of branches and ATMs. Its services focus both on retail clients and small and medium-sized enterprises. It was founded in 1997 after the acquisition of Agrobanka bank as GE Capital Bank. In the year 2000 it changed the name to GE Money Bank. Its headquarters are located in Prague. Its call center operates from Ostrava.
France
GE Money Bank France is born from the acquisition by GE of Crédit de l'Est and SOVAC in 1995. It provides real-estate mortgages and auto loans.
Italy
In 2008, GE Capital acquired Interbanca, a merchant banking firm from ABN AMRO, in exchange for GE Capital businesses in Germany, Finland Austria, and the UK.
Hungary
Budapest Bank, was established in 1987 as one of the first commercial banks when the two-tier banking system was created in Hungary. Since 1995, GE (General Electric Company) as owner provides solid background for the bank. Budapest Bank offers a full range of financial and banking services for consumers and small and medium-sized businesses.
Poland
Polish GE Money Bank S.A. is located in Gdańsk. After acquiring the Polish bank BPH SA and governing under its brand (31 Dec 2009) Polish headquarters are located in three cities: Warsaw, Kraków and Gdańsk.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, GE Money provides mortgages and secured loans through the former First National, acquired from Abbey National, and offered these through intermediaries. On 25 September 2008, it was announced that the UK Financial Services Authority had fined GE Money Home Lending £1.1 million for failings in its systems, which caused it to overcharge borrowers. It was announced on 29 March 2008 that the GE Capital Bank store cards business and managed credit card business had been acquired by the Santander Group. GE retains its mortgage business.
Former operations
Australia
In Australia, the GE Money brand encompasses the GE Consumer Finance and GE Capital Finance businesses. The company provides car, boat, personal and consolidation loans, credit cards, mortgages and insurance.
At the end of 2002 to beginning of 2003 GE purchased the Australian Guarantee Corporation (AGC) business from Westpac Banking Corporation, and as a result, AGC Automotive Finance became GE Automotive Finance (GE Auto), and former retail finance competitor, AGC Creditline, became known as GE CreditLine.
GE Consumer Finance controls most credit cards and loans and has a strategic partnership with Coles Group to operate the Coles Group Source MasterCard. GE Consumer Finance governs the GE Creditline, GO MasterCard, gem Visa and Buyer's Edge cards which all offer interest-free terms at participating retailers.
GE Finance also has strategic financial relations with Myer, Australia's largest department store. In 2006 and 2007 Myer signed contracts with GE to issue and govern both the new Myer Card and the Myer Visa Card. GE was also the issuer of the old red ColesMyer card which is no longer an acceptable method of payment of Myer stores, this is following the decision of Myer being disenfranchised from the ColesMyer group.
In 2004, GE Capital Finance purchased the Wizard Home Loans business.
On the 24th of October 2008, GE Money announced that it will cease offering motor finance in Australia and New Zealand. This move has proven damaging to GE aligned dealerships who have been given 60 days to find an alternate financier to provide floorplan finance. GE Money also announced that it will be pulling out of the mortgage industry and no longer providing mortgages other than those sold under the Wizard Brand.
In Mid December 2008, GE Money announced it was in advanced talks with the National Australia Bank (NAB) to sell the Wizard Brand. Ultimately, Wizard was bought by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
In 2015, GE Capital sold its Australian and New Zealand business to a consortium led by Deutsche Bank, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Värde Partners.
Austria
Austria's GE Money (formerly GE Capital Bank) was founded in 1994 after the successful acquisition and merger of Mercurbank and AVABANK. Today, it is one of Austria's leading consumer and auto finance businesses and a market leader in retail sales financing. Based in Vienna, with a network of branches throughout the country, the business provides a variety of innovative financial services including auto lending, private lending, sales finance and third party personal lending. The primary focus is on consumers, customers and business partners, such as car dealers, retailers and loan brokers.
The Austrian division was purchased, along with the German, Finnish and British store card operations of GE Money, by the Santander Group in January 2009.
Canada
GE Money Canada provided private label credit card and MasterCard card programs to consumers and lending options for retailers in key industries across the country. GE Money-Canada also was a provider of alternative residential mortgages and patient financing through its CareCredit unit. It was part of the Synchrony Financial spinoff in 2014.
Denmark
GE Money Bank Denmark (previously GE Capital Bank Denmark) offered credit cards, loans and other financial solutions. Brand names included Acceptcard, Morecard and E-lån. In 2014, GE Capital sold its Scandinavian operations to Santander.
Hong Kong
GE Capital was incorporated as a Restricted License Bank in Hong Kong. Its major focus was in mortgages (homes and automobile) and personal loans. GE Capital sold its Hong Kong operations to Standard Chartered.
India
GE had more than 118 branches in India as of July 2006. Most of these are in the southern states. There were branches in Coimbatore, Erode, Salem Saradha, Trichy, Madurai, Tanjore, Palaghat, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Rajamundhry, Kakinada, Vizag, Vijayavada, Hubli, Darhwad and Belgaun. GE was the first BPO's in Hyderabad. GE Capital sold its Indian housing finance business to Magma Fincorp.
Ireland
GE Money Ireland was part of the European operations of GE Consumer Finance. In the Republic of Ireland, GE Money provided specialised financing and services such as leasing, hire purchase, mortgages and loans to businesses and individuals across the country. With headquarters in Dublin, GE Money serviced its customers through regional sales centres and a dealer and partner network. GE sold its Irish loan portfolio to Pepper Home Loans in 2012.
Latvia
GE Money Bank Latvia was a universal bank owned by GE in Latvia (merged from the former BTB bank and GE Money financial company), offering loan and deposit products to both private and legal entities. It was acquired by Otkritie FC Bank in 2011.
Japan
GE Consumer Finance Co., Ltd (GEã‚³ãƒ³ã‚·ãƒ¥ãƒ¼ãƒžãƒ¼ãƒ»ãƒ•ã‚¡ã‚¤ãƒŠãƒ³ã‚¹æ ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾) is part of the Japanese operation of GE Consumer Finance. From April 2005, it began to provide GE Money brand in Japan. In 2008 GE was crowned In-House of the Year - Japan In-House Lawyer of the Year by the 2008 ALB Japan Law Awards. The Japanese operation was sold to Shinsei Bank in 2008.
Netherlands
GE Artesia Bank, a part of GE Capitals subsidiary GE Commercial Finance, offered banking services to High-net-worth individuals as well as corporates in the Netherlands. It provided capital finance, long-term finance, leasing and finance for specific international trade transactions. It closed in 2015.
New Zealand
In 2002 GE Finance purchased Australian Guarantee Corporation's New Zealand-based finance company to create the AGC Creditline Card (now GEM Visa Card), which provides financing for retailers such as Harvey Norman and Freedom Furniture, and automatically receive 6 months interest free on any purchase over $250 wherever visa is accepted. In 2006 GE Money New Zealand purchased Pacific Retail Finance (PRF), New Zealand's largest personal consumer finance company, and the mortgage assets of Superbank, a supermarket-based banking system.
On 24 October 2008 GE Money announced that it was pulling out of the New Zealand vehicle finance market, with the loss of 80 staff. It attributed this decision to the credit crunch.
On 15 December 2008, GE Money announced it would no longer be offering home loans through Wizard Home Loans and was seeking a buyer.
In 2015, GE Capital sold its Australian and New Zealand business to a consortium led by Deutsche Bank, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Värde Partners.
Norway
GE Money Bank Norge was a division of the Stockholm-based Swedish subsidiary GE Capital AB. It was a leading provider of consumer finance products in Norway with more than 300,000 clients and total lending of NOK 5 billion, second only to the major domestic bank DnB NOR.
It was the second bank in Norway to offer US style credit cards with zero annual/monthly fee and including a grace period, after Bankia Bank ASA. In the eighteen months following the launch of GE MasterCard in June 2001, the market increased to more than 100,000 US style credit cards. Before these cards, Norwegian banks only offered annual fee cards or cards with no interest free grace period.
In 2014, GE Capital sold its Scandinavian operations to Santander.
Philippines
GE Money, in an effort to expand its presence in Southeast Asia, acquired a majority stake in the now-defunct Keppel Bank Philippines which acquired what was formerly the Monte De Piedad Bank, the Philippines' first savings bank. The acquisition was finalized on December 20, 2005 after the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas approved the purchase on December 8, 2005. The bank was renamed GE Money Bank Philippines. GE Money Bank Philippines had 31 branches all over the Philippine archipelago. GE Money Bank Philippines was acquired by BDO Unibank in 2009.
Romania
In Romania GE Capital has two subsidiaries:
- GE Money, a personal finance and leasing company.
- GE Garanti Bank, a bank detained by GE Capital in a joint venture with Garanti Bank International from Turkey. GE Garanti is located in Bucharest.
GE Capital sold its Romanian operations to Garanti Bank in 2010.
Russia
Russian GE Money Bank Russia was located in Moscow. It was sold to Sovcombank in 2013.
Sweden
The Swedish subsidiary was GE Capital Bank AB. Based in Stockholm, the bank traded as GE Money Bank. In 2014, GE Capital sold its Scandinavian operations to Santander.
Switzerland
GE Money Bank was the largest provider of small consumer credits in Switzerland. In 2006, the company partnered with Migros, allowing them to offer credit cards contracts through Migros. The Bank is now Cembra Money Bank and went public (IPO) in 2013.
United States
Before June 2, 2014, GE Capital Bank was made up of retail and commercial banks. The company was founded in 1988 and is based in Draper, Utah. GE Capital Retail Bank provided retail banking and credit services to consumers in the United States and internationally. It offered retail sales finance, such as private label credit card programs, installment lending, bankcards, and financial services for consumers. The company also provided retail consumer financing solutions, such as private label credit cards, dual card, flex loans, and all-tender loyalty and gift cards; It offered its products and services through dealers, retailers, associations, contractors, manufacturers, healthcare practices, and service providers. The company was formerly known as GE Money Bank and changed its name to GE Capital Retail Bank in October 2011. GE Capital Retail Bank operated as a subsidiary of General Electric Capital Corporation.
GE Capital Retail Bank acquired MetLife Bank from MetLife in 2011.
As of June 2, 2014, GE Capital Retail Bank is now known as Synchrony Bank. GE Capital is now composed only of the original commercial/industrial bank in the United States. GE Capital now provides credit services solely to businesses and merchants in the United States, and acts as a multi-product commercial finance bank, and uses deposit Accounts to fund commercial loans and leases.The company serves various industries, such as automotive, consumer electronics, flooring, healthcare, home furnishings and improvement, HVAC, elective health care, jewelry, landscaping and irrigation, luxury goods, marine, music, outdoor power equipment, pool and spa, power sports, recreation vehicle, sewing, sporting goods, travel, vacuum, and water treatment industries. GE Capital Bank is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
GE Capital owned WMC Mortgage from 2004 to 2007.
Legal Issues
In April 1997, a lawsuit against General Electric Capital Corp was filed on behalf of the company's customers who filed for bankruptcy. The GE Capital Corp. was accused of unfair debt collection practices. The class action lawsuit resulted in $100 million settlement with over 100,000 class members from 50 states. Plaintiffs claimed that the company solicited agreements from bankrupt debtors to repay their credit card debts but failed to notify bankruptcy court of the agreement. Those reaffirmation agreements legally required the debtors to continue paying off their debt in exchange for keeping the credit card, even though bankruptcy erases credit card debts. The lawsuit claimed that GE Capital was required by law to file the agreements with bankruptcy courts and did not do so. As part of the settlement, the company agreed to refund, with interest, all credit card payments made after debtors entered into the reaffirmation agreements between January 1, 1993, and June 30, 1997. GE Capital Corp. also promised to advise credit bureaus to correct any negative credit reports related to class members’ failure to repay reaffirmed debt.
In June 2014, Synchrony Bank, formerly GE Capital Retail Bank, agreed to settle claims of illegal credit card practices that were filed by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the United States Justice Department by agreeing to pay $225 million to Spanish speaking consumers that were harmed by discriminatory practices and deceptive marketing.
On April 2015, GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt announced plans to whittle down GE Capital â€" a legacy of GE's former and sometimes controversial CEO Jack Welch â€" in a letter to shareholders. It is "a big change for GE," but he said it is "right for the company."Under the plan, Immelt said that GE expects more than 90% of its earnings will be generated by its industrial businesses by 2018, up from 58% in 2014.GE Capital, meanwhile, will make up 10% of the company's revenues by 2018, down from 46% in 2001. Shareholders applauded the announcement, pushing shares in G.E. up nearly 11 percent on Friday, to $28.51, levels unseen since the financial crisis. However, the downsizing is no small matter for a company whose empire encompasses 175 countries and employs about 305,000 people.
Recent news
On March 13, 2014, GE Capital announced that it would spin-off its North American consumer finance division under the new name Synchrony Financial through an initial public offering (IPO). On July 31, 2014, Synchrony Financial raised $2.9 billion in its IPO when GE sold 125 million shares (15%) of the company.
On April 10, 2015, it was announced that GE would sell most of GE Capital's commercial and consumer businesses within two years, focusing instead on its leasing businesses connected with GE's manufacturing businesses. The company reached an agreement to sell the majority of its property business to Wells Fargo and Blackstone, valued at $26.5 billion.
In June 2015, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board announced it would acquire GE Capital’s private equity lending portfolio for $12 billion.
References
External links
- Official website
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