GE expects to close MetLife deal in "reasonable timeframe" -CFO

CROTONVILLE, N.Y., Sept 27 (Reuters) - General Electric Co expects to close its acquisition of $7 billion of bank deposits from MetLife Inc in a "reasonable timeframe," its chief financial officer said on Thursday.

GE, the largest U.S. conglomerate, this week agreed with MetLife to change the structure of the deal, making it subject to the approval by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, rather than the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, a move intended to speed approval of the deal, which was agreed to in December.

"We're reasonably confident that we're going to have this closed and we're going to go through the regulatory process," GE's CFO, Keith Sherin, told an investor meeting at the company's training center in Crotonville, New York.

GE wants to buy the bank deposits as part of its effort to make GE Capital less dependent on short-term borrowings to fund its loans.