Public company | |
Traded as | : CIT |
Industry | Financial services |
Founded | 1908 |
Founder | Henry Ittleson |
Headquarters |
11 West 42nd Street, New York City, United States |
Key people
|
Ellen R. Alemany (Chairwoman and CEO) |
Products | factoring, mortgages |
Revenue | US$2.943 billion (2016) |
US$709 million (2016) | |
Total assets | US$64.170 billion (2016) |
Total equity | US$10.002 billion (2016) |
Number of employees
|
4,410 |
Capital ratio | 13.8% |
Website | cit |
CIT Group Inc. is a financial holding company founded in 1908 headquartered in New York City. The company's name is an abbreviation of an early corporate name, Commercial Investment Trust. It provides financing and leasing capital to customers in over 30 industries. CIT also operates CIT Bank, an FDIC insured bank, its primary bank subsidiary.
The company is ranked #603 on the Fortune 1000 list of the largest American companies and is on the list of largest banks in the United States.
CIT filed for bankruptcy protection on November 1, 2009, and with the consent of its bondholders, emerged from bankruptcy 38 days later, on December 10, 2009.
CIT operates two business segments:
On February 11, 1908, Henry Ittleson founded the Commercial Credit and Investment Company in St. Louis, Missouri.
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. During World War I, CIT financed the manufacture of 150 submarine chasers. It also added consumer financing of radios through an agreement with Thomas Edison, Inc. During the Roaring 20s following the war, consumer spending rose dramatically and CIT prospered in its consumer appliance, furniture, and automobile financing groups. In 1924, CIT incorporated in Delaware and listed its stock on the . CIT entered the field of factoring in 1928 and expanded operations into Europe in 1929.
With international tensions rising prior to World War II, CIT closed its German operations in 1934. Arthur O. Dietz succeeded Ittleson as president of the company in 1939. During the war, CIT offered its 2000 employees a month's bonus, life insurance, and a guaranteed job on return if they served in the United States Armed Forces. Between 1947 and 1950, the company's net income rose from $7.3 million to $30.8 million. Ittleson died at age 77 on October 27, 1948.