SVP – Corporate Development — Corporate Bank

The mandate

A multinational-owned corporate bank has approved an inorganic agenda after a strategy review, even as the existing franchise works through a cost-to-income reset. Its opportunity list is broad, integration assumptions are immature and some proposed targets would add the same complexity the bank is trying to remove. The board needs disciplined execution from proprietary origination through realised value, not a sequence of attractive deal announcements.

The SVP – Corporate Development will influence approximately A$58,500 million in loans and deposits and lead around 1,250 employees and material partners. The remit covers strategic options, target origination, valuation, diligence, transaction execution, partnership and minority structures, integration logic, divestment and benefits realisation. Accountability sits with the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor.

The inorganic thesis will start with specific strategic gaps. A target should add customer access, product capability, distribution, data, talent or operating leverage that the bank cannot build more effectively. Each thesis needs a credible right to win, ownership advantage and alternative. Competitive enthusiasm and available financing cannot substitute for strategic fit.

Pipeline quality will be measured by learning and conversion, not the number of names. The SVP will create proprietary relationships with owners, advisers and industry leaders while maintaining clear conflicts and information controls. Early work should identify fatal regulatory, cultural, technology or portfolio issues before large teams and fees are committed.

Valuation will reflect banking consequence. Revenue synergies need named customers, propositions and adoption assumptions; cost benefits require activity, role, contract and timing. Funding, capital, credit, liquidity, conduct, tax and integration cash must be explicit. Downside cases should show how value behaves if growth arrives late, attrition rises or remediation is required.

Integration logic belongs in the deal decision. Customer migration, product rationalisation, data, core systems, legal entities, controls, brand and leadership require target states and accountable owners before signing. A low headline multiple can be expensive when operational separation or technology debt is understood. The executive will ensure integration leaders can reject assumptions they cannot deliver.

The cost-to-income reset creates a strict test. Acquisitions must not reintroduce duplicate platforms, locations or management layers without a funded retirement route. Conversely, indiscriminate cost pressure cannot remove the capability required to integrate safely. Corporate development and the operating programme need one benefits baseline and a common view of stranded cost.

Partnerships, minority investments and capability purchases may achieve the thesis with less integration risk. These structures still need governance, data rights, economic alignment, service obligations and exit options. The SVP will compare them honestly with acquisition and organic build rather than treating full ownership as the default mark of ambition.

Post-close governance will trace value to decisions. Benefits should have executive owners, leading indicators and stop or corrective triggers. Capital sponsors must see market movement separately from integration action. Lessons from diligence and execution will update future gates, preventing repeated optimism across deals.

Leadership decisions are integral to value. Retention should protect specific customer, technical or control dependencies for a defined period. Selection of target and bank leaders must follow future accountabilities, not negotiation influence. Successors and knowledge transfer need to be credible before a key executive departs.

Why this seat is open

An accelerated transition created an urgent replacement requirement just as the board approved the inorganic agenda. Interim coverage supports live work, but transaction judgement and integration ownership cannot remain divided. Appointment is targeted within six to eight weeks, with the predecessor’s circumstances treated discreetly.

What you will own

• Convert strategic gaps into a proprietary, prioritised inorganic pipeline.
• Influence allocation across an A$58,500 million corporate-banking perimeter.
• Govern valuation, diligence, structure and board recommendations.
• Build executable integration and divestment logic before commitment.
• Reconcile deal benefits with the wider cost-to-income reset.
• Lead approximately 1,250 employees and partners through material choices.
• Compare acquisition with partnership, minority investment and organic build.
• Track customer, capital, cost and control value after completion.

The first 12 months

The opening 90 days should review the approved agenda, current pipeline and cost-reset baseline. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to inorganic execution, including capital sponsors, business leaders, risk, finance, technology, regulators and potential counterparties. Assess team capability and agree investment gates.

Months four to nine should narrow the pipeline, advance proprietary opportunities and stop cases that fail strategic or integration thresholds. Complete deep diligence on priority targets and establish accountable integration logic. Early value may be an avoided deal, improved terms, a partnership chosen over acquisition or cash released through a divestment.

By year end, pipeline quality, integration readiness and value realisation should be repeatable. The approved case must stay within 10%, with forecasts reconciling customer, capital, cash and people assumptions for three quarters. Priority transaction risks need independent closure evidence; serious escalation may not remain open beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Proprietary opportunities tied to explicit strategic gaps and ownership advantage.
• Valuation sensitivity to capital, funding, attrition and integration execution.
• Benefits supported by activity, customer and contract-level evidence.
• Integration decisions made early enough to alter price or structure.
• Retention above nine in ten for pivotal talent and ready-now cover across seven in ten direct reports.
• Capital redirected when an acquisition fails agreed continuation gates.

The person

You are an SVP Corporate Development, M&A Director or Strategy Executive with 22–28 years in banking or adjacent regulated financial services. You have originated and executed transactions and remained accountable long enough to see whether integration and value claims survived.

Your accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least A$33,950 million, and you have led 875 or more people. You can evidence an inorganic programme whose economic and operating results endured for two reporting periods.

You understand corporate banking economics, capital, credit and integration. You can build trust with owners while retaining the independence to recommend against a transaction, and you know when partnership or organic build is the superior answer.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is A$380,000–500,000 plus annual incentive. The permanent Sydney appointment is onsite, supports international relocation and allows notice of up to six months.

Confidentiality

The bank, predecessor, pipeline and counterparties remain confidential. Identifying information follows a fit discussion and mutual undertaking; figures and context are deliberately blended.