CIT Group Inc. late Tuesday slashed its quarterly dividend by 80 percent to 2 cents per share.
The cut comes about a month after the commercial lender became a bank-holding company and was approved to receive $2.33 billion from the Treasury Department's rescue program.
CIT said the dividend is payable Feb. 27 to shareholders of record Feb. 17.
CIT, like many other financial firms, has been hit hard by the ongoing credit crisis as investors have shied away from purchasing all but the safest forms of debt, leading to a near disappearance of funding options.
The company recently raised $1.15 billion in regulatory capital. That, combined with the government investment, provides CIT with additional capital needed to fund its operations.
Shares of the company closed at $2.42 on Tuesday.
