GE Capital, the Australia-based financial services provider, has announced the appointment of Skander Malcolm as chief executive of GE Capital Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Malcolm has over 18 years of experience in the Australia, US, and UK financial services industry. He was most recently the managing director of retail solutions for GE. He replaces Steve Sargent, who was promoted in 2009 to run the company's Asia Pacific operations, in addition to retaining his role as CEO of all the firm's Australia and NZ businesses, as previously reported by WealthBriefingAsia.

"Skander is ideal for this position and will lead GE Capital’s growth plans in this region to provide formidable competition to the banks," Mr Sargent said in a statement. "He will bring this operational excellence and charismatic leadership to our GE Capital operations in Australia and New Zealand – the fourth largest GE Capital market in the world."

GE Capital in Australia and New Zealand is part of the global GE Capital business, whose network spans 55 countries with a total of $28 billion in assets under management.