With family roots in trade and finance, June Yang found herself drawn to Allianz Trade as a place to build an international platform for herself. Sure enough, her time at the company has accelerated her path toward personal and professional expansion, bringing her into contact with people and projects from around the world. Now, in her role as Surety Underwriting and Operations Analyst, June is helping to build the future alongside a supportive team of colleagues.
Expressway to success: building the future with a career in surety
December 18th, 2024
What brought you to a career in surety at Allianz Trade?
As I come from a family of merchants, my upbringing has been shaped by experiences with trade and finance which sparked my desire to further explore these areas. I later gained my first exposure to trade credit insurance (TCI) at another company before seeing an opening at Allianz Trade. I identified this as a golden opportunity to advance my career and simply couldn’t pass it up.
I therefore joined Allianz Trade’s Claims & Collections team in Hong Kong in 2017. I’ve since enjoyed seven rewarding years with the company, benefiting from excellent on-the-job training – while completing two business degrees within the first five!
In 2022, I transitioned to the surety department as a way to delve further into the field of credit insurance and risk management and expand my skillset. This journey has been marked by continuous professional growth, enhanced by training and education opportunities provided by Allianz Trade.
What are your responsibilities in your current role?
In my current role as Surety Underwriting and Operations Analyst at Allianz Trade in Asia Pacific (APAC), my responsibilities are multifaceted. They encompass ensuring the quality and efficiency of our surety operations at the regional level and providing underwriting support to our local teams, mainly those in China and Singapore. These tasks require a blend of technical expertise, analytical skills and strong communication abilities.
I’m also the sole surety representative for Allianz Trade in Hong Kong, serving as the primary point of contact for clients and stakeholders. In this position, I oversee surety operations in the office by ensuring compliance, supporting market analysis and managing distribution channels. Internally, I additionally foster collaboration to enhance operational alignment and support for the surety team. Our goal in the APAC market is to achieve sustainable growth, and I am dedicated to actively contributing to this objective as a strong team player.
What challenges have you encountered in surety?
Every day presents new challenges that push me to grow and adapt. However, a significant area would be increasing my direct engagement with clients and brokers in the external market. Early on, I recognized this as essential for my professional development. To address this need, I actively seek insight from team members with extensive experience. My manager and colleagues from different offices have been incredible on this front. By sharing their knowledge and involving me as much as possible in meetings, they’ve helped me build a bridge between myself and the market. Going from an internal-facing to an external-facing position, and finding the confidence to communicate with clients and brokers, has thus been quite a learning experience!
What experiences stand out to you from your career?
One of my most impactful experiences occurred after newly joining the surety team. It involved the construction of a massive railway project, located far from our region with many stakeholders, contractors, financial institutions and governments from around the globe attached. Being part of this project made me feel like I was connecting with the world – and building upon the future in a meaningful, tangible way! That was incredibly exciting and fulfilling, and truly opened my eyes to the complexities and opportunities of international projects. You could say that the experience inspired me to continue to contribute to the success of future larger-than-life projects. For me, that starts with further developing my capabilities as a surety specialist in the Asia Pacific region, while supporting my colleagues to ensure we collectively achieve our goals.
