Slightly more than a year after being unceremoniously ousted from Bank of America, former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain has been tapped to become the new chief executive of embattled finance company CIT Group.

Thain several weeks ago had been mentioned as a leading candidate to run CIT, which emerged from bankruptcy in December after nearly collapsing from the weight of soured subprime mortgages.

CIT had been on the hunt for a new CEO since last fall, when then chief executive Jeffrey Peek announced he would leave the company following his failed bid to diversify the company beyond small-business lending.

For Thain, the chance to run CIT provides him a chance to stage a comeback after being dumped by former BofA boss Ken Lewis following the revelation that Merrill suffered billions in losses ahead of BofA’s acquisition of the troubled investment bank.

Since then, Lewis has faced a lot of heat amid allegations he hid those losses from BofA investors, and was forced to resign as CEO. Just last week, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed fraud charges against Lewis in connection with those allegations.