Investec Bank plc has appointed Terry Koizou as Head of Client Relationship Management within its UK Corporate Banking business, the latest in a string of senior hires as the bank builds out a dedicated mid-market relationship model.
Koizou joins from Citi Commercial Bank, where he led client coverage for Business and Professional Services and Non-Bank Financial Institutions across the UK. He brings more than 20 years of banking experience, with over 17 spent in commercial and corporate lending. He joins Simon Jacobs, who arrived as Chief Operating Officer in September 2025, and Dean Sullivan, who joined in June 2026 as Head of Credit and Risk.
The proposition
Investec’s stated ambition is to deliver relationship banking to 1,000 UK mid-market businesses by the end of its FY2030 financial year. The bank estimates there are more than 60,000 companies in that segment, a cohort it characterises as chronically underserved by larger clearing banks. The relationship management team is expected to grow to more than 40 bankers over time.
The proposition is structured around dedicated regional and industry-focused relationship managers, supported by what Investec describes as intuitive digital tools designed to complement rather than substitute for personal service. The product range spans lending, treasury, risk solutions and broader advisory work.
Andy Hart, head of corporate banking at Investec Bank plc, framed the ambition as “corporate banking that feels like private banking,” a high-touch model that aims to serve clients across their full lifecycle, from cash-flow management and risk hedging through to refinancing and value realisation.
Koizou said his focus would be on “building a high-performing relationship management team designed to spend more time adding value for clients, staying close to their businesses and helping them realise their growth ambitions.”
Market context
The UK mid-market banking segment has become a contested space. The large clearing banks have historically struggled to offer the bespoke service that entrepreneurial businesses value, creating an opening that several specialist and challenger lenders have moved into over the past decade. OakNorth, Shawbrook and Close Brothers, among others, have built commercial lending books by targeting precisely the clients Investec is now pursuing.
Investec’s differentiator, if the execution holds, is the combination of a full banking licence, an established balance sheet, and wealth management adjacency through its strategic partnership with Rathbones Group. That breadth, in theory, allows relationship managers to support a client through growth capital, risk management and succession planning in ways a pure-play lender cannot.
The structural challenge is headcount. Building a 40-plus relationship-manager team to meaningful productivity takes time, and relationship banking is by definition capacity-constrained. The FY2030 target of 1,000 clients implies an average of roughly 25 clients per relationship manager at full build-out, a ratio that is workable but leaves limited room for the depth of engagement the proposition promises.
From a regulatory standpoint, Investec Bank plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA, meaning the corporate lending activity sits within a well-established supervisory framework. No new licence applications or regulatory milestones accompany this announcement.
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