Allianz Trade Targets Asia-Pacific Growth With Senior Hong Kong Hire
Allianz Trade has created a new regional business development role as it looks to expand its surety business across Asia-Pacific. The insurer has appointed an industry veteran with more than three decades of banking and insurance experience to lead the push from Hong Kong.
Allianz Trade has appointed Daf Owen as Regional Surety Business Development Director for Asia-Pacific, effective August 1, 2026.
Based in Hong Kong, Owen will report to Chris Markesteijn, Regional Head of Surety & Guarantees Asia Pacific, and will be responsible for driving the group’s surety business development strategy across the region.
The newly created position underlines Allianz Trade’s ambitions to expand its surety franchise in Asia-Pacific, with Hong Kong serving as a hub for the regional growth push.
More Than 30 Years of Experience
Owen brings more than 30 years of experience across insurance and banking. His career includes senior roles at Aon, Atradius and HSBC in the United Kingdom and Australia.
He moves into the regional position from Allianz Trade in Australia, where he has spent the past three years as a senior underwriter.
Markesteijn said Owen brings a combination of underwriting, broking and banking expertise to the role. The appointment is intended to build on the company’s experience in Australia and capitalize on growth opportunities across the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Hong Kong as Regional Base
Owen highlighted the potential for further expansion in the surety market and the strategic importance of Hong Kong as a base for the role.
«The Surety opportunity across that footprint is still largely in front of us,» he said, pointing to Hong Kong’s concentration of markets, capital and business relationships.
Allianz Trade specializes in trade credit insurance as well as surety, collections, structured trade credit and political risk. The Paris-headquartered company operates in more than 40 countries and employs around 5,900 people. It reported consolidated revenue of 4 billion euros in 2025, with insured global business transactions representing 1.4 trillion euros of exposure.
