CIT Group launches new products for small businesses, HOAs

CIT Group in New York said Friday that it would launch a suite of deposits products for homeowners associations, as well as a mobile app for small-business clients in Southern California.

The new deposit products are part of CIT’s broader strategy to increase low-cost the deposits in its community association banking division, which it acquired when it bought the $8.3 billion-asset Mutual of Omaha Bank on Jan. 1.

CIT has said it wants to double the deposits in the homeowners association business over the next five to seven years and use that low-cost liquidity to expand middle-market commercial lending.

The new deposit products will include a money market, a sweep account, a certificate of deposit and a ladder CD that offers depositors the option to access funds every one, three, six, nine or 12 months. CIT said the full amount in all of those accounts will be protected against loss by a surety bond for any funds over the $250,000 covered by FDIC insurance.

In a separate announcement, CIT said that it would offer a new mobile app for small-business clients of its OneWest Bank in Pasadena, Calif. Small-business clients will be able to apply for equipment financing and working capital through the app, in addition to conducting basic banking transactions, the company said.

"Our new app is an accessible and convenient solution for local entrepreneurs looking to manage their money digitally, from anywhere at any time,” Heather Ellison, OneWest Bank’s head of retail banking, said in a press release.

The $50.8 billion-asset CIT acquired OneWest Bank in 2015.