General Electric Co. reportedly could sell off major pieces of Norwalk-based GE Capital, possibly to include its private-label credit card business.
Earlier this year, Norwalk-based GE Capital resumed dividend contributions to parent General Electric Co., which is based in Fairfield. The company is in the process of acquiring the retail bank division of MetLife, expanding its base of U.S. depositors. GE Capital currently takes deposits through two U.S. entities: GE Capital Retail Bank, a federal savings bank, and GE Capital Financial Inc., an industrial bank.
Investors remain worried about GE”™s exposure in financial services, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited three unnamed sources in reported GE is mulling divestments. According to the report, the company could also divest niche lending programs, such as showroom financing.
GE Capital earned $1.8 billion in the first quarter, flat from a year earlier, with revenue off 12 percent to $11.4 billion due primarily to drops in its consumer financing business. GE Capital assets totaled $573 billion, 4 percent below its totals in the first quarter of 2011.
