GE Reorganizes Lending Division

WASHINGTON -- General Electric (GE Quote) says it is reorganizing its struggling GE Capital unit to save $2 billion next year, a process that will likely lead to job cuts.

In a statement posted on the company's blog, GE says it is organizing the unit that provides commercial and consumer loans around what it calls three poles in Europe, Asia and the Americas. It will also have a unit focusing on banking and another on restructuring.

The company says the reorganization, first announced in July as part of a broader company restructuring, will save about $2 billion at GE Capital in 2009.

In a videotaped interview on the company blog, GE Capital Chief Operating Officer Bill Cary also says that there will eventually be a reduction in the unit's work force because of the reorganization, but he does not give any details.