RBS Citizens, the commercial banking division of Citizens Financial Group, announced the national launch of its Technology and Services banking group.

The national rollout of the Technology and Services group comes as Citizens expands its broader Mid-Corporate business nationally. This expansion includes the development of national banking groups focused on high-growth industries like technology, health care and franchise finance.

The Technology and Services group is focused on building relationships with both emerging growth and established technology companies across four primary sectors:

• software and systems
• business services
• hardware and equipment
• media and communications

The group is led by veteran technology banker and industry executive William Egge, who joined Citizens last year to develop the national strategy for this business.

Egge has over 17 years of experience in the Technology and Services industry as both a banker covering the industry while at Wachovia Securities and as an M&A and corporate finance professional for two private equity backed technology companies in the technology-enabled services sector.

“We have a very strong portfolio of technology relationships in place that has grown significantly over the years as the major technology companies in our footprint have recognized our expertise in this area and turned to us for their banking needs,” said Steve Woods, Head of Corporate Banking at RBS Citizens. “We are pleased to be able to build on this regional success and to offer this expertise to technology companies nationwide.”

Woods added: “William brings a unique technology industry background and perspective that we will leverage as we build the group into a national practice.”

“I’m excited about the opportunity to expand our already strong Technology and Services business,” said Egge. “Citizens has a lot to offer companies in the technology sector. We have a diverse portfolio of clients that include both technology companies and private equity groups and we are deeply engaged in the technology M&A market. We have a very strong team with a lot of industry expertise that is focused on helping our clients achieve their goals.”

As part of its national expansion announced last month, Citizens has hired teams of experienced commercial bankers across its traditional New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern markets and also in the following markets: Atlanta, Washington, DC, Charlotte, NC, Dallas and Los Angeles.

As announced earlier this year, Providence-based Citizens Financial Group will be changing the name of its commercial banking division to Citizens Commercial Banking later this year.