The purchase of First National's consumer credit operation fits with the global strategy of one of the world's largest conglomerates.
In the US, General Electric's financial services division - once called GE Capital but now split into four units - wants to expand from its traditional strength in store cards into other areas of lending.
Jeffrey Immelt, GE's chief executive, said the group wanted to expand consumer and commercial finance through acquisition and organic growth. While "mega deals" have been ruled out, GE last year paid $2.4bn for the commercial finance business of ABB, the Swiss-Swedish engineering company, and recently bought a German consumer finance group.
The First National deal fits GE's strategy of buying in areas where it believes it can get a healthy return on equity, partly by exploiting its triple-A credit rating to borrow at low rates.
