Chennai - July 21, 2006 - Madras School of Economics (MSE) has partnered with GE Money USA to set up 'The GE Money-MSE Decision Sciences and Financial Research Lab' (GMDSFL). The Lab is designed to support and promote quantitative research in decision sciences to test and implement fresh ideas for GE's consumer finance businesses globally. This high-end Lab will be funded by GE Money, USA and staffed by world-class Ph.D.-level research faculty and graduate students of MSE.
The Memorandum of Understanding was exchanged today between Mr. David Fogarty, Vice President, Global Decision Sciences, GE Money, and Dr. C. Rangarajan, Chairman of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, on behalf of the Madras School of Economics. Dr. Raja J. Chelliah, Chairman Emeritus, Madras School of Economics was also present at the ceremony.
The Lab is modeled after the success of GE's Edge lab Research partnership with the University of Connecticut and seeks to establish a collaborative environment, which promotes teamwork and emulates a real-world business setting. The Lab aims at providing MSE a platform to facilitate cutting-edge research in finance and economics. It will provide researchers and academicians a collaborative forum to meet and exchange ideas, explore the field of decision sciences and produce white papers and research work.
The lab will simultaneously leverage the expertise and research backgrounds of distinguished MSE faculty and students to provide unbiased perspective and strategic insights into GE's consumer finance business and provide GE Money with unique solutions. A typical project model involves a combination of expertise from GE Money, academic literature and teaching, Six Sigma techniques, and the students' own creativity.
Mr. Fogarty in his Keynote address said, "Our partnership with the Madras School of Economics is an investment in GE's innovation heritage that will enable GE Money to achieve the vision of becoming one of the best-in-class and data-driven global financial services organizations in the world."
The MSE Research Lab is also likely to give students an opportunity to advance their knowledge and career. With fresh-from-the-classroom knowledge that students look to apply, they can take on projects as part of their summer internship program, and can also learn how to apply their skills to corporate challenges.
Among global financial services organizations, GE Money is known to be one of the most advanced in the use of customer analytics.
GE Money, a unit of General Electric Company, with $163 billion in assets, is a leading provider of credit services to consumers, retailers and auto dealers in 51 countries around the world. GE Consumer Finance, based in Stamford, Conn., offers a range of financial products globally, including private label credit cards, personal loans, bank cards, auto loans and leases, mortgages, corporate travel and purchasing cards, debt consolidation and home equity loans and credit insurance. More information can be found online at www.gemoney.com.
MSE is a Centre for post-graduate teaching and research in economics. It was founded by some of the leading economists, bankers and industrialists. MSE offers a Masters degree in economics in collaboration with Anna University and a Ph.D degree in economics with the degree being offered by the Anna University and University of Madras, respectively. MSE also undertakes research on its own as well as carries out research projects sponsored by various agencies such as, government departments, Ministries and International Organizations.
Purnima SahniMohanty
GE Corporate Manager - Communications
[email protected]
+91-11-41555303