Yeah, this won’t help

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on November 2, 2009 at 7:55 am

The somewhat expected bankruptcy filing of CIT Group looks set to further reduce credit options for small business.

CIT’s factoring business, worth about $42 billion in 2008, is estimated to be at least five times the size of its closest competitor, Wells Fargo & Co, followed by other smaller companies such as GMAC Inc and Rosenthal & Rosenthal. It is not clear if these rivals have enough capacity to take on all of CIT’s existing customers.

SEE ALSO: The company’s official restructuring site.

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Tags: bankruptcy, CIT Group Inc., factoring, lending, small business, small-business lending, specialty finance  

Market watchers see turning point in CIT rescue

By Geert De Lombaerde Posted on July 21, 2009 at 8:13 am

The emergency bondholder funding for lender CIT Group (Ticker: CIT) is the clearest signal yet that investors are again increasing their risk appetite when it comes to financials.

“You’ve got private money coming in and essentially giving a vote of confidence” in banks’ future profitability, said Vincent Reinhart, former director of the Federal Reserve’s monetary affairs division. “It’s encouraging.”

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Tags: banking, CIT Group Inc., financial institutions, lending