GE Investor Day

GE held an investor day last week focused on commercial and consumer finance. Of particular interest is the presentation on GE's global consumer finance business. In the US, GE has about 100 million consumer relationships through its private label card business. GE claims that merchants benefit greatly from private label cards -- visiting 50% more frequently and spending 30% more per visit. In addition, merchants save money when private label cards are used as they are less expensive than traditional bankcards. GE also discussed its plans for dual use cards -- combining private label and bankcard together in a single piece of plastic (similar to cards issued today by Sears and Target). GE is planning to launch dual use cards later this year.