If GE Commercial Finance were a bank, it would probably be among the world's top five lenders. As it is, being the biggest profit generator at one of the world's largest companies, America's $360bn (€302bn) General Electric, makes the chances of it going its own way look slim.

That view was reinforced by last week's acquisition of Antares Capital, a US provider of debt financing, turning GECF into America's largest mid-market lender.