GE Money pulls plug on 85 jobs
Friday August 08 2008
FINANCIAL services company GE Money is to make 85 staff redundant and stop offering personal and commercial loans, in a major restructuring of its operations in Ireland.
The lender, which is part of America's largest company General Electric, is to continue offering sub-prime loans, loan protection insurance, and car finance through motor dealers.
Staff were told about the restructuring yesterday and those impacted by the changes will be offered alternative roles in the company or a redundancy package, the Irish Independent has learned.
Asked about the redundancy deal, a spokesman said the package would be "generous by industry standards."
GE Money currently employs 450 in this country with another 2,000 working in other GE divisions in Ireland.
The restructuring moves comes as life company Hibernian seeks 570 redundancies and outsources back office functions to Bangalore.
Insurer Axa is seeking 120 redundancies at its Dublin headquarters, and AIB has cut its staff numbers by 600 through natural attrition.
The GE Money spokesman said the redundancies and restructuring reflected "current market conditions for financial services products provided by GE in Ireland and some process efficiencies".
The spokesman added that it was anticipated that around 85 people would end up leaving GE Money and GE Capital Solutions once the shake-up is complete.
A failure to get a good enough return on its personal loans business was the reason it would no longer lend to consumers in Ireland. The lender had been advertising its Flexiloan heavily, including striking animated TV adverts.
Its loans had been sold through a call centre, and through EBS Building Society.
Personal loans provided by GE will no longer be offered through Car Buyers Guide or brokerage Cornmarket.
Interest rates for GE loans were based on the credit worthiness of its customers which meant it charged some of the highest rates. A cost survey on the Financial Regulator's website shows that GE Money charged 15.99pc for a €3,000 loan over one year.
For a five-year loan of €22,000 the rate quoted was a more competitive 8.99pc.
The lender is to discontinue commercial loans offered by GE Capital Solutions for equipment.
But GE is to retain its loan protection business and its specialist or sub-prime mortgage business. It will also to continue to offer car finance.
GE had, up to recently, also been the loan provider for One Direct, the An Post financial services division which is now part of Benelux finance house Fortis.
- Charlie Weston Personal Finance Editor
