Technology for Good: GE Evolves from Financier to Green Tech Start-Up Investor

In 1905 GE established the Electric Bond and Share Company to provide financing to small local utilities. Already in business for a quarter century by that year, GE realized that capital flow and capital were crucial for conducting business.

Since that venture into a space that had traditionally been left to banking, GE’s financial services have morphed into a global power in its own right. Over a century later, that precursor to GE Capital now employs over 60,000 people and manages more than half a trillion dollars in assets. Its portfolio is both huge and diverse: aviation, communications, entertainment, healthcare and real estate are among the businesses in which GE regularly finances.

Over 90 years after its earliest origins, GE had a crucial role in resolving the financial crisis that rocked Asian banking systems. In 1998, GE Commercial Finance developed a rapid valuation process that bundled 30,000 loans from 56 different firms. Developed at the time enormous loan auctions were held in Asia to restore liquidity, this approach helped stabilize global markets.

To read how GE has evolved, visit Triple Pundit.