NEW YORK (MainStreet) — When it comes to online banking, the philosophy of bigger banks has often been to bundle in some online banking services with their existing bricks-and-mortar branches and leave it at that.

But today CIT Group (Stock Quote: CIT), a Fortune 500 bank that specializes in offering commercial loans to small business and middle-market clients, bucked the trend and announced a new online FDIC-insured consumer bank, CIT Bank.

It’s likely a wise decision, considering that a May 2011 study by ForeSee Results, a business analytical firm, reported that customer satisfaction with online banks measures 83 on a scale of 1-100, versus 76 with regular banking.

When ForeSee asked survey participants which banking channel they preferred, 55% chose online banking, while 13% chose the traditional bank branch location.

“Brick-and-mortar banks will never go away, but the huge lead online banking has over other channels when it comes to satisfaction emphasizes its importance to a bank’s relationship with its customers,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results and author of the report, in a statement. “The roadmap for improving satisfaction will vary from bank to bank, but the only way to manage and improve the customer experience is to measure it.”

Bank of America’s (Stock Quote: BAC) recent decision to pop customers with a $5 monthly fee to use a debit card on purchases also revealed the popularity of online banking. A few days after the announcement, the online bank PerkStreet Financial said it had twice as many new customers sign up than usual.

Just two years out of bankruptcy, CIT says it wants to start its online effort by offering certificates of deposit to customers, then go on to checking, savings, online bill payments and mobile banking in 2012.

“The launch of CIT Bank online is another important step in our efforts to diversify our funding sources into stable, low-cost deposit products,” John A. Thain, chairman and chief executive officer of CIT Group, said in a statement. “The CIT Bank platform will allow us to expand our client base as we offer additional retail and commercial deposit products in the future.”

CIT’s initial plan is to offer three varieties of CDs, with no account opening or monthly maintenance fees. Here’s a description of each according to the bank:

• Term CDs: Allow consumers to lock in interest rates for between 6 months and 3 years.
• Achiever CDs: Offer consumers a one-time opportunity to increase their savings potential. If CIT Bank’s CD rates go up, customers can opt to take advantage of the higher rate by raising their rate. Customers can also elect to increase their deposit level at any time during the term of the CD.
• Jumbo CDs: Offer consumers higher CD rates for larger deposits.

CIT is using online banking to offer its services to regular consumers, and not just small and mid-size businesses.
Call it a sign of the times. The path to new revenues for larger banks is online – and not through traditional bank branches – even if banks have to open up a new online bank to get there.