Steve Bertamini, head of General Electric Australia/New Zealand, has said that top Australian finance company GE Capital is banking on growth in its commercial and consumer finance businesses to help it return to post-tax profitability in the current financial year.
Bertamini has said GE Capital is increasing its market share in small business lending at the expense of major banks. Pre-tax losses at GE Capital Finance (Australasia), which manages most of the group's $18.5bn assets in New Zealand and Australia, amounted to $57.7m in the 12 months to December 2003, compared to $16.5m in the previous year.
The division has been quietly building a major stake in small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a sector the big banks have recently identified as a major source of growth.
