However, the financial services industry was, by definition, volatile, and GE Capital was particularly hard hit by the economic of 2008. With the credit markets illiquid and financial markets falling, GE capital found that it was overexposed to commercial real estate and foreign residential mortgages. At this point, GE's parent corporation stepped in, began reorganizing GE Capital, and significantly downsized the unit. GE Capital sold most of its insurance lines, completely left the U.S. mortgage market, and substantially tightened its consumer underwriting guidelines, However, the company still was on the lookout for under-priced assets, and purchased several lending lines from even more troubled Citigroup, as well as a large commercial real estate portfolio from Merrill Lynch financing.