The General Electric Co. said Wednesday that its massive finance business, hard hit by turmoil in the credit markets, is now eligible for federal backing of up to $139 billion of its debt.
GE said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approved GE Capital Corp. to participate in the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.
Up to $139 billion in short- and long-term debt is guaranteed, said Russell Wilkerson, a spokesman for Fairfield, Conn.-based GE. GE will now be on the same footing as competitors who also have federal backing, he added.
Nearly half of GE's earnings are from its finance business, with the remainder from its industrial business that makes everything from locomotives to water treatment plants, and from NBC-Universal.
GE is the parent company of NBCConnecticut.com.
