(Adds details, background)
Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. small-business lender CIT Group Inc
CIT.N said Chief Executive John Thain will retire effective
March 31, and will be replaced by board member Ellen Alemany.
Sixty-year-old Thain, who headed Merrill Lynch before it was
sold to Bank of America Corp (N:BAC) BAC.N at the height of the
financial crisis, was appointed CEO in February 2010 to get CIT
back on track after its bankruptcy.
Since then, CIT has increased its reliance on deposit
funding and has wiped out more than $30 billion of high-cost
debt, reducing its funding costs.
The company also said on Wednesday it would explore
strategic alternatives for its $10 billion commercial air unit
and sell its CIT Canada and CIT China businesses to help with
its transition to a U.S. commercial bank. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw1pb5Xda
CIT, which announced in July it would buy California bank
OneWest Bank NA for $3.4 billion, said the divestitures would
help it simplify its bank-centric business model.
CIT said Thain, also a former chief executive of the New
York Stock Exchange, would remain as chairman and Alemany would
be appointed vice chairman in November. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nBw1hLWgja
Alemany, a former CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's
RBS.L Americas unit, has been a director at CIT since January
2014.