GE Money to cut 80 jobs in Dublin and Shannon

GE Money is to cut 80 jobs in Dublin and Shannon, the firm announced today.

The company said the job losses are due to a decision to cease offering residential mortgages and reduce its exposure to the car finance sector in Ireland from January.

GE Money currently employs 400 people in Ireland. The firm said it would seek to redeploy as many affected employees as possible into other areas of the business where vacancies exist.

The company is one of the country's largest providers of personal, auto and commercial loans.

GE Money said it will continue to provide inventory finance facilities to selected car dealers as well as retail car finance and ancillary insurance products. However, it said the level of business transacted "will be significantly reduced compared to previous years".

The firm stressed that the changes would have no impact on existing Mortgages, Personal Loans and Car Finance agreements and insurance policies in Ireland.

"These decisions are as a direct result of the extreme volatility and greatly increasing cost of funds on the global wholesale markets," said GE Money in a statement.

"The unprecedented conditions prevailing in capital markets has meant that GE Money has to be more selective in its allocation of capital and needs to ensure it gets a reasonable return on investment. Mortgages are capital-intensive businesses and the returns available at present no longer justify the cost of funding these products in Ireland," it added.

The company said a process of employee consultation will commence immediately.