Head: New Client Acquisitions, Business Banking Commercial Client Coverage, South Africa

About the role

Empowering Africa's tomorrow, together...one story at a time. With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group. Job Summary The Head of New Client Acquisitions (NCA) is a senior leadership role responsible for defining and executing a primacy-led acquisition strategy, driving the systematic origination, conversion, and activation of New-to-Bank (NTB) clients into fully embedded, revenue-generating primary banking relationships. Job Description 1. Business Area & Reporting Line Business Banking Commercial Client Coverage South Africa Reports to: Managing Executive: Business Banking Commercial Client Coverage, South Africa 2. Role Purpose The Head of NCA provides strategic leadership to a team of Acquisition Bankers (AB) and Ancillary Banking Coordinators (ABC), with a focus on acquiring New-to-Bank (NTB) clients and securing primary banking relationships. The role is accountable for the end-to-end performance of the NCA franchise, driving origination excellence, disciplined credit execution, seamless onboarding, and rapid activation to achieve full transactional primacy and sustainable revenue growth. The Head of NCA ensures that client acquisition is executed through a structured, primacy-led model, anchoring relationships on core transactional operating accounts, clearing flows, and primary debt facilities, while maximizing wallet share across all product capabilities. 3. Core Responsibilities 3.1 Primacy-Led NTB Acquisition Strategy Define and execute a national, primacy-led acquisition strategy focused on winning primary banking mandates, displacing incumbents, and capturing dominant wallet share across transactional, liquidity, and trade flows from onboarding. Develop and continuously refine a targeted "hunting strategy" across priority sectors, regions, and client profiles, supported by disciplined prospecting frameworks that drive a high-quality NTB pipeline. Systematically target Commercial-profile NTB clients (≥R50m T/o or Sales), ensuring structured engagement and consistent origination momentum. Differentiate through compelling value propositions and switching strategies that enable effective competitor displacement and sustained client conversion. 3.2 Leadership of End-to-End Deal Lifecycle Execution Provide strategic oversight across the full acquisition lifecycle, ensuring seamless progression from origination through execution, implementation, activation, and sustained client utilisation. Review all NTB transactions to guide Acquisition Bankers and Coverage Bankers on optimal structuring and solutioning, including direct engagement with clients where required. Sponsor and advocate for qualified transactions at Credit Risk forums and relevant governance committees to secure timely approvals. Drive accelerated time-to-primacy through strong coordination across ABs, ABCs, Product Houses, Credit, Legal, and Operations, while actively monitoring pipeline velocity, execution quality, and conversion outcomes. 3.3 Team Leadership, Coaching & Performance Enablement Lead, coach, and mentor Acquisition Bankers and Ancillary Banking Coordinators to build a high-performance team that delivers consistent results and embeds a strong deal-owning, accountable culture. Chair regular deal forums to unblock pipeline constraints, sharpen client strategies, and improve conversion outcomes. Co-pilot strategic client engagements at Owner, CEO, and CFO level to secure primary banking mandates. Drive continuous capability uplift across credit structuring, pricing, transactional banking, cross-sell, and provide ongoing mentorship across the NCA team and broader colleague network. 3.4 Revenue Growth, Cross-Sell & Franchise Expansion Enhance the NCA franchise brand and profile across the Business Banking franchise by driving strong internal engagement, increasing referrals, and promoting consistent adoption of best practices. Increase wallet share across both NTB and existing Commercial clients through close partnership with Coverage teams and targeted client strategies. Ensure disciplined linkage between balance sheet deployment and transactional primacy to drive sustainable and accretive revenue growth. Promote ecosystem capture across client value chains to deepen relationships and expand revenue opportunities. 3.5 Risk Management, Governance & Compliance Ensure all origination activity aligns with the Bank's risk appetite, governance standards, and applicable regulatory requirements (FICA, FAIS, AML, SARB). Proactively identify, assess, and manage reputational, credit, and transactional risks, taking appropriate action, and being guided by Compliance to mitigate any adverse impact on transactions. Maintain a strong, strategic partnership with Credit Risk to enable e

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