GE Commercial Finance, a division of GE Capital, the US financial services group, has hired Kim El-baz and Joanna Francis to join its European leveraged finance team.

El-baz joins from Morgan Grenfell Private Equity, where she was head of investor relations. In her new role, she will be responsible for the company's portfolio management. Francis joins the origination team at GE Commercial Finance from Mizuho, where she was an analyst focusing on credit assessment of leveraged finance.