US financial group CIT is to receive a $2.33 billion capital injection from the US Treasury as part of the emergency rescue package for the country's troubled financial sector.
The money comes as part of the US government's $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) established in November, which has been used to help shore up the banking sector's capital reserves.
CIT, which has some $80 billion in assets and operates in at least 50 countries, won approval on Monday to become a bank holding company. This gives it 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 property lending and had taken other steps to deal with the unprecedented credit crunch.
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 US, in order to gain access to federal investments under the US government bail-out plan.
