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Congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY13) today released the following statement on the announcement that General Electric (GE) is moving the headquarters of its core consumer finance division from Connecticut to London.
“GE’s announcement is indicative of the dynamic and global nature of business today and the reality that corporations have the ability to locate their operations in the markets that best suit their needs. GE has a long and storied history in the United States, and it should raise concern when a company of its stature moves its headquarters – and many high-paying jobs – to another country. In recent years, foreign nations have enhanced their markets in an effort to challenge the United States’ supremacy as the global financial leader. We have seen corporations increasingly turn to London and other foreign markets to do business at the expense of the United States. While U.S. securities laws and investor protections make our markets the deepest and most liquid in the world, we must meet the challenges from overseas with the same ingenuity and creativity that has defined America for more than two centuries. GE’s announcement should serve as a call to action for U.S. policymakers to improve the regulatory and legal environment here to ensure the United States maintains its position as the world’s financial center.”
Fossella serves as Chairman of the “Capital Markets, Economic and Information Security” Task Force under the House Republican Policy Committee. He has been meeting with top officials of the financial services industry in different cities across the nation to develop legislative remedies that would more effectively strike a balance between upholding investor protections and promoting competitive markets.
