GE Capital aims to make top 5 in consumer finance

Banco GE Capital, the finance arm of General Electric, wants to be one of Brazil's five largest consumer finance groups in five years, local daily O Estado de S. Paulo reported Tuesday. GE Capital has so far opened four stores in Sao Paulo state and plans to inaugurate another 10 stores before year-end and 50 new units statewide in 2004. According to Marcelo Hirata, information technology director with GE Capital, the bank is also studying the possibility of expanding to Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Parana. GE Capital is also planning to grow through acquisitions. "We're closely watching the consumer finance market," Hirata said. Bradesco, Brazil's largest private-sector bank, on Friday announced its acquisition of Zogbi, a consumer finance group with two million clients, for R$ 650 million ($1 = R$ 2.89). HSBC, meanwhile, earlier this year bought the country's largest consumer finance group, Losango, in a transaction that involved HSBC paying $815 million for all of Lloyds TSB's Brazilian assets. by Sergio Caldas