CIT Bank hopes to beef up its outreach to homeowners associations through its Mutual of Omaha Bank acquisition, which closed last week.

The bank, which announced its intent to acquire Mutual of Omaha in August for $1 billion in cash and stock, said it intends to use Mutual of Omaha’s technology to create low-cost deposit channels for homeowners associations.

Denise M. Menelly, head of technology and operations at CIT Bank who supervised the acquisition, explained that CIT Bank has already begun to expand digital capabilities for small- to medium-sized business clients, and Mutual of Omaha Bank would boost their ability to improve on existing digital services offerings.

“Mutual of Omaha Bank comes with technology that it has already built specifically geared towards homeowners associations,” Menelly said. “We saw that we could leverage those capabilities [with other services] that we’ve been building here at CIT.”

She added the objective will be to grow CIT’s homeowners association deposits, which CIT’s Chief Financial Officer John Fawcett called the “secret sauce” of the deal last year. The bank wants to grow sources of low-cost deposits that are scalable over time as it moves beyond savings and commercial financing products.

Menelly said Mutual of Omaha Bank offered secure and quick payments to homeowners associations. To prepare for the integration of Mutual of Omaha’s tech stack, CIT has been improving its data analytics capabilities and creating solutions for better API gateways.

See also: CIT buys Mutual of Omaha Bank to reach homeowners associations

“We can provide benefits to Mutual of Omaha Bank clients and [Mutual of Omaha] had some things that are unique to their clients that they serve; the combination of the two feels really strong,” Menelley said.

She also pointed out that upgrades to CIT’s systems made the integration of the two banks’ technology platforms easier to complete.

“[CIT Bank] thinks it’s a nice complement to the work we’ve been doing to further automate processes here at CIT,” she explained.

CIT estimates that there are about 347,000 homeowners associations across the country, accounting for about $50 billion in deposits annually. In a call with investors last year, CEO Ellen Alemany said the bank wanted to expand into other major housing markets in southern California, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Acquiring Mutual of Omaha Bank cost CIT Group Inc $1 billion, comprising $850 million in cash and more than 3 million shares of CIT stock, which were issued to Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company.

Bank Innovation Ignite, which will take place March 2-3 in Seattle, is a must-attend industry event for professionals overseeing financial technologies, product experiences and services. This is an exclusive, invitation-only event for executives eager to learn about the latest innovations.