General Electric Co will record an after-tax charge of US$6.2 billion in its fourth quarter results as part of an ongoing review of its finance arm's insurance portfolio, the company said.

GE shares were down 3.7 per cent in premarket trading on Tuesday.

The company, which started the review last year, also said its GE Capital unit expects to make statutory reserve contributions of about $15 billion over seven years.

In November, GE's new Chief Executive John Flannery outlined steps to turn the biggest U.S. industrial conglomerate into a smaller, more focused company.

GE also cut its annual dividend to 48 cents from 96 cents, only the third in the company's 125-year history.

"At a time when we are moving forward as a company, a charge of this magnitude from a legacy insurance portfolio in run-off for more than a decade is deeply disappointing," Chief Executive John Flannery said in a statement on Tuesday.