Networking with a client and life in corporate development post-IB

I'm currently an IB analyst at a BB coverage group specializing in a fairly niche industry, and have limited interest on exiting to PE (particularly outside of my coverage group). I'm content with staying in banking for the medium - long term, however was hoping for some insight from those who have successfully pursued to corporate development route. I'm primarily interested in corporate development for two reasons:

1. The industry that I cover is relatively receptive to having people with capital markets / M&A background serve as C-suite roles (CEO / CFO) or senior executive roles (i.e. VP corp. dev.)
2. The significant improvement in work life balance (this coverage group across most banks tend to be grindy due to number of companies in the coverage universe and most clients are pretty demanding). This isn't a concern for me in the near-term (and would probably hate the slow-paced nature of a corporate at the junior level), but want to plan ahead in case the corp. dev route is something I want to pursue

Appreciating that corporate development roles differ vastly between industries and companies, I had a few high-level questions I was hoping for the forum's insight on:

1. Is there any sensitivity on networking with clients as an employee at a bank? Obviously can't disclose what other engagements you're working on, but want to be cognizant of the fact that as a current employee, I am effectively representing the bank in any discussions with a client
2. For those that exited to corp. dev., do you have any regrets? My main concern is that the corporate lifestyle would be too slow paced for my personality (albeit this may change as I age), the lead-time to carry out any strategic initiatives, and the additional risk of being a principal instead of an advisor (i.e. fired as a scapegoat for underperforming M&A)
3. Given my situation, if I were to transfer to corporate, what time would be right? Unlike PE associate recruiting where candidates need to be "malleable", corporates from what I've seen value transactional experience so tenure in a IB role isn't necessarily a con, per se

Thanks in advance