GE Commercial Finance Australia/New Zealand has announced a joint venture agreement with Pacific Premium Funding to develop a specialist insurance premium funding company.

GE, which currently services about 800 intermediaries, will dissolve its operations into the group under the Pacific brand. Pacific also services around 800 brokers and offers services to more than 28,000 Australian businesses.

President and CEO of GE Commercial Finance Steve Sargent says combining the groups will ensure a strong market position. “Combining Pacific’s industry-leading systems and service levels with the distribution and financial resources of GE Commercial Finance will create a pre-eminent provider of insurance premium finance in the industry.”

The joint venture is expected to begin on August 1.