CIT Group will receive 2.33 billion dollars in capital injection from the US Treasury as part of the emergency rescue package for the country's troubled financial sector, the company said Tuesday. The money comes as part of the government's 700-billion-dollar Troubled Assets Relief Program established in November, which has been used to help shore up the banking sector's capital reserves.
CIT, which has some 80 billion dollars in assets and operates in at least 50 countries, won approval Monday to become a bank holding company, giving the commercial financial giant broader access to central bank lending during the credit crisis. In July the company, a major player in industrial loans including aircraft financing, sold its real estate lending and had taken other steps to deal with the unprecedented credit crunch.
CIT underwent a major debt restructuring as part of its push for full bank status, and the company said its previously priced offering of common stock will be settled on Tuesday. The New York-based financial giant is one of several financial institutions that sought full bank status in recent months as the financial crisis began to bite in the United States, in order to gain access to federal investments under the government bailout plan. The US Federal Reserve authorised credit card giant American Express to gain banking holding company status last month.