RBC Centura Banks Inc. introduced its newly formed Knowledge Based Industries group today, to provide early-stage loans and commercial banking services to high tech companies.

The KBI group will provide its high tech customers with a full range of financial and advisory services, offering life cycle financing to information technology and life sciences companies specifically.

It will combine its services with those of RBC Centura Capital, the private equity arm of RBC Centura, and its affiliated local venture capital firms, to develop end-to-end financial solutions for the companies its serves.

The unit’s first U.S. office was opened in Raleigh today. Leading the KBI unit is Brent Keating, the former head of Royal Bank’s technology lending practice in Toronto, and with him, technology lending expert Chris Julich.

Keating, a technology lending professional with 15 years of experience, is responsible for the management and development of RBC Centura’s KBI operation in the southeast United States.

Added to his expertise is that of Julich, who joins RBC Centura from Imperial Bank’s emerging growth division, where he served as vice president and manager of its North Carolina office.

“We are both thrilled and challenged by this opportunity to create and build a business,” Keating said. “The launch and development of KBI in North Carolina, and eventually throughout the southeast, positions RBC Centura well to meet the financial needs of a target customer base that faces unique business challenges.”

RBC Centura’s KBI operation in Raleigh will serve as a platform for expansion into other technology centers in the U.S., with plans for future expansion slated for Atlanta and Washington D.C.