GE Capital formally asks to shed its ‘too big to fail’ designation

GE Capital has filed a request to the Financial Stability Oversight Council to rescind its designation as a non-bank Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI).

In other words, it considers itself no longer “too big to fail.”

GE Capital received the SIFI label in 2013, but according to Chairman and CEO Keith Sherin, the label no longer applies.

“Our plan to change our business model, shrink the company and reduce our risk profile has been successful,” he said. “We have completed over 80 percent of our projected asset reductions; exited leveraged lending and U.S. consumer lending; exited nearly all middle market lending; reduced real estate debt by more than 75 percent and real estate equity by 100 percent; and reduced outstanding commercial paper almost 90 percent.”

General Electric has been refocusing its efforts on technology and manufacturing over the past several months. The company announced March 30 that it is selling its GE Asset Management division in Stamford to Boston-based asset management firm State Street Corp. for a reported $485 million.

GE Capital”™s March 31 request came one day after a federal judge granted MetLife”™s request that its SIFI designation be dropped.