Complexity and cake: highlights of a career in surety

“Like most people who live in Copenhagen, I wasn’t born here!” says Agge Kristensen, Surety and Guarantee Manager at Allianz Trade in Denmark. Coming from the countryside in West Denmark, Agge moved to the international hub in 2018 after completing his degrees in economics. He first worked in banking, enrolled in the graduate program and later as an analyst in the risk management department.

It was at this point, in 2022, that Agge was approached by Allianz Trade for a role in the surety team. Curious and up for a new challenge, he took the leap.

During early conversations with my now-manager, I learned that this position would require working directly with clients. This sounded great to me because while I had no experience in customer contact, I knew that it was a direction I wanted to go in. I was also excited to be on a smaller team where I could take on more responsibility.

After on-boarding during my first few months here, I got started on issuing my own bonds. I was still asking questions and getting support, but I succeeded in managing my own client for the first time. I handled the full project, from the initial meetings to understand if we could help right through to issuing the bonds. It was so rewarding when we completed the project. And it was a double win: they were a new client as well as new business.

As it was the first contract I had completed, I brought the team cake – chocolate and blueberry – to celebrate. It’s a fun tradition we have. 

On particularly exciting days, we travel for customer meetings. We cover all of Denmark, so we may have several meetings in one area. In that case, we leave very early in the morning and continue through the day with meetings. I think you have to enjoy travel to do a job like this!

I also really enjoy working on complex guarantees. For example, in energy –trading energy, building wind farms – there are a lot of moving parts and both local and international regulations that need to be considered. Wording and conditions can vary dramatically from one project to another. 

Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions when you get started. You can learn a lot by asking colleagues how they approach client situations and taking what you think works well for you. It’s also necessary to be both organized and flexible. A day can change quickly so you need to be able to strategize in the moment. And an analytical mindset is essential to being customer facing while handling internal analysis and reporting.

I love that surety is a niche area that lets you grow into an expert. The more you know about it, the more exciting it is. And the more knowledge you have, the more value you can bring customers.

It’s exciting to be in surety while it’s growing both in Denmark and abroad. Surety has a part to play in the green transition and I’m personally very interested in working in the area of green energy. Right now I’m working on a guarantee for a new client who is putting down cables for offshore windfarms. The project fascinates me.

I also really like that AZT is so international. Perhaps one day I will try working abroad if the right opportunity arises. I would consider other parts of Europe, the U.S., or elsewhere. I’m very open-minded!