About

Leading Danish financial services company Nykredit are counselled by a legal team of 38 professionals – 24 lawyers and 14 non-lawyers. The team is led by three senior lawyers; head of legal Kenneth Hedegaard, head of legal department mortgage section Søren Hoffmann Christiansen and head of compliance Annelise Warrer. Operating in a centralised structure, there are four departments encompassing the different business units of Nykredit; mortgage law, banking law, group legal affairs and compliance. The benefits of the team’s organisation are described by an in-house source as encompassing ‘an increased efficiency, knowledge sharing and minimised overlap of functions and duplication of work’. The team is a part of all major developments and decisions in the company whether that is new products or strategic decisions, adding value to the business. Highlighting their impressive achievement of creating the first base prospectus in Denmark where different bonds, both covered and unsecured can be issued under the same prospectus and issuing documentation of covered bonds in Denmark, the team can cite innovation as one of their key strengths. Other examples of the team’s great work include the establishment of funding models with local and regional banks, which gives credence to their reputation for their business insight and transforming complex burdensome legislation into positive commercial outcomes. Nykredit faces a challenging but exciting future with an increasingly tough legislative environment and an upcoming initial public offering; legal has worked extensively to create a strong foundation for the offering by establishing consistent governance structures throughout the company.