The Financial Stability Oversight Council's decision means there are no longer any nonbanks subject to stricter, post-crisis oversight.
Regulators decide the finance firm is no longer "systemically important," recognizing GE's extensive divestitures of non-core assets.
The banks' projected capital cushions in the event of a severe recession all exceeded the Fed's minimum requirements.
The firms now have until Oct. 1 to show they can survive a financial collapse without a taxpayer bailout.
The GE unit says it has completed 80% of its asset reductions and exited consumer lending.
MetLife's victory in a legal battle with regulators could encourage other institutions to challenge the "systemically important" designation.
The additional debt will go toward the financial cushion that banks must have to comply with new EU regulations.
New global rules will require the banks to have a shock-absorbing cushion even though they avoided the 2008 crisis.
A top regulator says the new rules are a "robust standard" that allows "systemically important" banks to fail without putting taxpayer funds at risk.
There is now a lower probability that the eight largest U.S. banks would be bailed out by the federal government in a crisis, says Standard & Poor's.
The Fed's proposed rule on big banks' “total loss absorbing capacity” is part of the new regime designed to avert a "too big to fail" scenario.
“Total loss absorbency capacity” will require lenders to have capital and debt equivalent to at least 16% to 20% of their risk-weighted assets.
