City National Corp., the Beverly Hills parent of City National Bank, announced Thursday that it will accept IOUs issued by the state from its clients.

“To assist our clients through this difficult period, City National will, in most instances, accept the registered warrants from our clients who receive them in payment of obligations owed to them by the state,” said Christopher Warmuth, president of City National Bank, in a statement.

With lawmakers unable to agree on how to close a $27 billion budget gap, California lawmakers approved a plan to issue registered warrants to vendors and taxpayers in a move expected to save the state tens of millions of dollars in borrowing costs as budget talks continue.

Beginning Thursday, the state began issuing warrants worth more than $50 million primarily to residents in lieu of income tax refunds. City National joins Bank of America Corp., which said Wednesday that it will accept the warrants from its customers through July 10, making them equivalent to cash.

Both City National and Bank of America said they would not accept IOUs from non-clients. Residents also can hold on to the IOUs, which carry a 3.75 percent interest rate. Some $3.36 billion in IOUs are expected to be issued this month by the state.