GE Capital extracted a higher yield from a stubborn portfolio over 2012, producing returns sufficient to ensure support from head office to grow the business yet again.The Australian and New Zealand financial business of the GE conglomerate has worked through most of the legacy issues forced on the company by the global financial crisis, including the need to shed low margin or capital-intensive businesses, such as home loans. GE has more than doubled its level of underlying profit since its low point in 2008, and has cut the balance sheet by more than two thirds since then.GE Capital said it earned "aggregated net income" in the year to December 2012 of A$552 million, up 10 per cent on 2011.Consistent with trends in bank profits, GE said its loan losses fell by 41 basis points, to 193 bps, last year.Growing its lending book is proving a challenge as the business seeks growth. Net lending assets fell seven per cent to $9.2 billion. GE says this fall was three per cent if the run-off in the car dealer finance book is overlooked.Greg White, chief operating officer for GE Capital in Australia, said of the group's strategy, there was "no material shifting in position at all."  "Our focus really is about growing the commercial businesses… doing [more work] with the mid-market, raising the profile. Really, that's our lending heartland."Thirdly, it's really just the focus around being a more focused financial services organisation. This is very aligned to the global strategy as well."Christina Selby, chief financial officer, said that because of "deleveraging we aren't seeing the asset growth coming through yet on the consumer book, but it's been good with some of the products we've launched, and the take-up of those; that's been great for the consumer market."  "On the commercial side, with our recent acquisition of [the debtor financing book of] Allianz, we are expecting further growth there."Selby said assets were "slightly up year-over-year on the commercial side, but [we] definitely want to see more growth in that area."White elaborated, saying that "the growth we're actually seeing in volume is mostly a credit card business." "Personal loan business is going OK, but probably credit card volume is the corporate story. "The deleveraging issues that all the financial services organisations are seeing on credit cards, we're not out of step with that.  So, consumers are still pretty cautious, but we're seeing some great outcomes in a number of our card products."28 Degrees [a travel MasterCard] originations have been fantastic.  It's a customer-advocated origination outcome."The work we've done with Gem Visa, [we have] originated 100,000 of those cards over the last 18 months, and the relaunch of the Coles MasterCard's gone tremendously well.  So we can feel really good about where the opportunities sit."Asked what financial goals have been set for the business in Australia from head office, Selby said: "It's really continuing to look for double-digit growth in line with GE Capital's plan for double-digit growth.  "We are being asked to grow, which is