I’m responsible for AkademikerPension’s fixed income portfolio. The portfolio is based on public as well as private credit and spans from AAA Danish government and mortgage bonds over Investment Grade and High Yield credit to Emerging Market Debt. The portfolio is partly internally and partly externally managed.

I was mainly responsible for the externally managed part of AkademikerPension’s fixed income and credit portfolio. This included, among other things, managing the relationship with existing managers and decide on the allocation across the different managers and sub-asset classes. Moreover, I was responsible carrying out new manager searches and for the due diligence in relation to new fund investments.In addition to that, I maintained and developed some of our in-house build portfolio management systems and tools (mainly SQL- and VBA based).Lastly, I also assisted on the internally managed portfolios and on the FX, liquidity and interest rate management for the entire pensions scheme.From mid-2021 to mid-2022 I was acting Head of Fixed Income & Credit while my superior was on leave.

I worked as portfolio manager on the foreign-exchange reserves. My responsibility varied across the operational and analytical space and included traditional front office duties such as market analysis, position taking and execution of trades, but I also took part in various strategic projects on new ways to manage the portfolio and whether to include new asset classes in the SAA.My daily responsibilities included:• Manage the portfolio of government- and SSA-bonds across the different investment currencies• Manage the overall duration on the foreign-exchange reserves• Manage and hedge the currency exposure• Liquidity- and cash management across the different currencies• Develop and maintain portfolio management toolsIn addition to the above, I regularly carried out the daily briefing of the governors and senior management on the developments in the financial markets.

I worked as risk manager on the central bank’s foreign-exchange reserves and domestic portfolios. During my nearly 4 years in the position I got the opportunity to work with most of the areas in the risk management unit. This helped me obtain a broad understanding of portfolio management in general and a deep insight in many of the different aspects of financial risk management, especially for fixed income portfolios.My tasks included among other things:• Operation, maintenance and development of the central bank’s portfolio management system, an in-house build system programmed primarily in SAS• Daily supervision of lines and limits etc.• Calculation of exposures and risk measures such as Value at Risk and different stress tests• Setting the tactical benchmark• Work out reporting and decision recommendations to the regular meetings with the governors• In addition to the above I took part in a number of different projects and developed among other things a new setup for managing the liquidity of the foreign-reservesBesides my work as risk manager I was part of the central bank’s lecture unit and gave regularly lectures to visiting high school and university students about economics and monetary policy. Occasionally I also gave internal presentations about financial risk management.

I was seconded to Finansiel Stabilitet A/S (a state-owned entity established in 2008 to take over and wind-up distressed banks) in a period where Danish banks could apply for individual government guarantees for part of their liabilities. I was mainly responsible for the credit assessment of the applying banks and for drafting the recommendation to the credit committee. The assessment was based on the banks financial statement and focused on their earnings, risks, capital structure, solvency and liquidity.

Alongside my studies, I worked part-time in the Danish Ministry of Transport’s Railway Division as a student assistant. My main responsibility was, broadly said, to assist the minister in issues on the railway area. That included, among other things, writing internal notes to the management and the minister and answering external questions from parliament and the public in general. During my more than four years in the ministry I learned a great deal about public administration, and I improved my skills in written communication significantly. Consequently, I also worked as webmaster on part of the intranet and the external webpage.During my first year, I was part of a team working on a public procurement. My job was to carry out a variety of calculations needed for the drafting of the contract that in the end would be tendered. This included dealing with large datasets and maintaining and updating very large databases. I later used my acquired database skills to develop an Access based time registration system for the staff in my division.