NEW YORK — General Electric asked the U.S. to drop the “too big to fail” tag for GE Capital, saying that its financing operations are a shadow of what they were when the Federal Reserve placed it under oversight in the aftermath of the global economic crisis almost a decade ago.
The company has been in retreat in the past year from its financial ventures, largely because of the cost and risk of complying with the Federal Reserve. It has shed billions in financial assets as it returns to its industrial roots.
GE Capital was listed a “systemically important financial institution,” or SIFI, by the Financial Stability Oversight Council following the financial collapse of 2008, a financial institution deemed to be so big and entwined with the U.S. financial system that it could threaten the entire economy if it failed. That, General Electric said Thursday, has changed.
GE Capital has reduced its assets by 52 percent to $265 billion, it said Thursday. Financing receivables are down 74 percent to $72 billion. Loans secured by real estate are down 77 percent, GE said. Loans to consumers are down 95 percent, to $4 billion. Those loans are down to zero in the U.S. On Wednesday, the company announced the $485 million sale of GE Asset Management.
“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,” said GE Capital Chairman and CEO Keith Sherin in a statement.
The request comes a day after MetLife, the largest U.S. insurance company, had the same designation tossed out by a federal judge. It was a major legal victory for MetLife, which took the government to court more than a year ago.
In fighting the oversight agency’s action, MetLife said that tougher requirements on life insurance companies would force the companies to raise the prices of their products, reduce the amount of risk they take on in selling their products or stop offering some products altogether.
Capital requirements for banks were established to protect depositors, rather than ensuring that life insurers can meet their obligations to policyholders, the company said.
Other than MetLife and GE Capital, the other two nonbank companies under SIFI oversight are American International Group and Prudential Financial.
In January, AIG said it would sell its broker-dealer segment, start an initial public offering for its mortgage-insurance division and slash expenses after pressure from activist investor Carl Icahn. Icahn has been pushing AIG to break into three entities.The changes could put the company it in position to challenge the SIFI tag.
