CIT Group history

In 1915, the company moved its headquarters to New York City and renamed itself Commercial Investment Trust and went by the initials of C.I.T. By that time, the company provided financing for wholesale suppliers and producers of consumer goods.

The company added automobile financing to its product line in 1916 through an agreement with Studebaker, the first of its kind in the auto industry.

In 1924, CIT incorporated in Delaware and became a public company via an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

At the same time, it maintained another factoring company called William Iselin and Co. It continued its focus on automobile financing, in 1933, buying Universal Credit Corporation, the financing subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company.

Arthur O. Dietz succeeded Ittleson as president of the company in 1939.

C.I.T. incorporated a new subsidiary, CIT Financial Corporation, in 1942, to focus on industrial financing.

Ittleson died at age 77 on October 27, 1948.

In 1958, to diversify, the company acquired Picker X-Ray Corporation, maker of X-ray and radiation equipment, for $1.9 million.

Five years later, in 1959, the company passed $100 billion ($859 billion in recent terms) in financing volume since its founding.

In 1964, C.I.T. combined its factoring units into a new subsidiary called Meinhard-Commercial Corporation.

In 1965, it acquired Meadow Brook Bank for $106.7 million in stock.

In 1969, CIT entered the personal and home equity loan and leasing business and left auto financing.

In 1979, restrictive banking rules forced CIT to sell its bank, National Bank of North America.

The company wa s a subsidiary of RCA and then Manufacturers Hanover Bank in the 1980 s, after being a freestanding public company for many years.

1984: The company is sold to Manufacturers Hanover Bank.

In 1986, C.I.T. changed its name to simply the CIT Group.

By 1989, Manufacturers Hanover had dropped fr om the nation's fourth largest bank to the seventh largest, and its f inancial condition had weakened as a result of troubled loans to fore ign countries.

In 1991, the company acquired Fidelcor Business Credit Corporation, which increased its services to small businesses.

In 1992, CIT opened 15 new offices in 7 states.

Then in 1994, the company made another acquisition, taking on Barclays Commercial Corp.

The year 1995 was a record year for CIT Group, with earnings at $225 million and $17 billion in assets.

Manufacturers Hanover had merged and changed its name to Chemical Banking, and in 1996 it underwent another transition as it merged with Chase Manhattan.

In 1997, the company became a public company via an initial public offering that raised $850 million.

In 2000, CIT announced record earnings of $611.6 million, an increase of 57.1% from the prior year, which was largely attributed to the acquisition of Newcourt the year before.

Tyco's declining reputation had damaged CIT Group's ability to borrow, and in February 2002 Tyco announced that it would sell the financial company within the next few weeks.

In late 2003, CIT bought the factoring business of GE Financial, making it the biggest United States factoring business by far.

In 2004, the company acquired the technology-leasing unit of GATX for about $200 million in cash.

At almost the same time, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it was investigating Tyco. (Tyco's chief executive, Dennis Kozlowski, was sentenced to jail in September 2005 and ordered to pay fines of $167 million for his part in financial wrongdoing at his company.)

In 2006, CIT moved its global headquarters back to New York City, opening a new headquarters at 11 West 42nd Street, across from the New York Public Library.

In December 2008, CIT became a bank holding company to receive $2.33 billion in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

On July 15, 2009, CIT's request for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation loan guarantees was rejected.

On February 8, 2010, former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain was hired as chairman and chief executive officer.

Closed our 10,000th VA purchase loan since January 1, 2014.

In August 2015, CIT Group acquired OneWest Bank, a regional bank based in Southern California.

In March 2016, CEO John Thain retired and was succeeded by Ellen Alemany, a member of the board of directors.

In April 2017, the company sold its aircraft lease business to Avolon for $10.38 billion.

In October 2018, the company sold its European rail leasing business, NACCO, which was its last overseas operation.

In January 2019, CIT announced it had joined the No.

In January 2020, CIT acquired Mutual of Omaha Bank.

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