Tech Bytes: Meridian Launches Tech Banking Group

READING, Pa. - Meridian Bancorp has launched a banking group aimed meant to appeal to high-tech companies.

The Reading-based banking company developed TechBanc, as the program is called, to reach out to the nearly 2,500 high-tech firms in the state. Nearly one-third of these companies are nestled in the Delaware Valley region where the group's efforts are focused.

Meridian officials claim that the bank's technology banking group is the first such program of its kind in the Middle Atlantic region.

Working with the Technology Council of Greater Philadelphia, the bank will offer traditional corporate banking services through TechBanc, including investment management, international services, leasing capital lines of credit, equipment loans, financing, cash management, on-line computer system access, and electronic data interchange.

High-tech companies - which tend to be small and use unconventional practices - can pose high risk in many cases. But Meridian executives believe that building strong relationships early on among businesses in this fast-paced industry can often lead to big payoffs.

"We recognize that these are companies and industries that are really growing," said Steven Hobman, the head of Meridian's technology group in an interview in December. "If you're the first bank that a company gets to know, then as they grow you already have your foot in the door."

At that time, Mr. Hobman estimated the high-tech segment accounted for 10% of Meridian's corporate clients in the Delaware Valley.