Diary of an Insurer: Allianz’s Alex Ktenidis

Monday

Our five-month old has become our alarm clock and wakes up at 5.15am. So the day starts with a change, tummy time and a picture book.

I am working from home today so get my head down to prepare for the January rush – year end results, conferences and broker meetings. I’ve kept the morning free to focus on planning, digesting between various reports and checking in with the team.

The day picks up with a review of transformation activity; we are investing significant amounts in upgrading our platforms based on broker feedback. 

Then onto a call with an Association of British Insurers working group focused on how we strengthen SME resilience. I love discussions focused on our customers especially having close friends and family who run small businesses.

The workday is rounded off with a team meeting with the commercial executive and we talk priorities for the week.

It’s 6pm, which means a feed and bath time. We love doing this together and it’s my turn to get little Ari down. Josie and I catch-up over a quick bite and then I head to the gym.

Tuesday

My alarm clock wakes me up at 5am. It’s an early morning as I head to our Leaders Conference that’s kicking-off 2025. During the drive I listen to the Rest is History podcast. Hearing the anecdotes about geopolitical tensions in the early 20th century made me ponder on the volatility we are facing today, especially with the new term [of the US President].

Beating the traffic has meant I am first to arrive so have time to chat with our distribution director, who is en-route. We discuss our broker strategy and engagement plans for 2025.

These get togethers are always so valuable as we exchange ideas and have a good laugh. Our CEO begins the conference reflecting on a strong 2024 and then the day is spent focussing on how we can continue driving high performance. 

During one presentation we discuss how wolves reintroduced to Yosemite changed river flows. A great lesson in the law of unintended consequences.

After a lovely meal with colleagues I head back to my hotel room and skip the nightcap as I’m off duty tonight and want to make the most of an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

Wednesday

Well rested, it’s another early morning alarm as I head to our Maidstone branch for our monthly digital trading leadership meeting.

We kick off the day with a review of financials and trading tactics and then progress into a session focused on our purpose. Being quite a new team, this generates great ideas, and we agree the key messages which will filter into our communications for the rest of the year.

We grab a quick working lunch and then the fun really begins as we all head out onto the floor with our underwriters and do call listening or sitting with the live chat team. We compare notes and discuss the operational enhancements we continue to strengthen our broker service.

The day draws to a close and I jump in the car and head home. (Hilariously, while writing this a week later, I realise I didn’t pay the Dartford tunnel charge and am now awaiting a fine through the post…)

Arriving back at 7.30pm we put on The Traitors and debate tactics.

Thursday

Ari shatters any hope of an extra hour of sleep and after handing over the reins I head into London. 

It kicks off with a discussion with our data team about new generative artificial intelligence use cases and the outputs of large language models we are using to refine our service. 

After one-to-ones with team members we have our change portfolio meeting; we’ve  successfully secured funding for a new programme of work that will bring exciting developments later in 2025. 

This is followed by our risk and conduct forum and a quarterly business review with a key strategic broker partner, where we discuss performance, strategy and agree concrete actions for mutual growth. 

I finalise and hit send on a briefing note for our CEO who will be updating group colleagues on our digitalisation journey. It’s been a long week, so I head home.

Friday

Ari decided to be nice to her dad this morning and wakes up just before 7am, and at 08.30am I take a call about enhancements we are making to our schemes and delegated authority capabilities. 

I then present, alongside my leadership team, to 150 people from across our distribution and technical teams about our digital trading results, proposition and priorities. 

We have been investing heavily following broker feedback and are making really good progress. 

The afternoon is spent in a commercial results meeting where we deep-dive with various parties including actuarial, claims and pricing. 

The working day rounds off with a kick-off session for our annual strategy review with group colleagues. 

Friday finishes with a brisk dog walk to our local pub and a nice cold pint of Rivertown IPA, followed by our weekly date night to start the weekend.