Aveni has appointed Kent Mackenzie as its new chief commercial officer, bringing more than two decades of experience across banking, consultancy, and AI-driven RegTech.
Mackenzie joins Aveni having built a career spanning senior positions at NatWest, Morgan Stanley and Lloyds Banking Group, where he oversaw transformation initiatives touching risk, data, compliance and technology. He subsequently spent a decade at Deloitte heading up significant portions of the firm’s risk analytics practice, applying machine learning and AI to compliance and regulatory challenges for large institutions.
During his tenure at Deloitte, Mackenzie founded RegHub, an award-winning software platform that used data, AI and machine learning to assess and manage regulatory change. He grew RegHub into a multi-million pound revenue-generating business before it was acquired by Corlytics, where he went on to serve as chief operating officer. Most recently, Mackenzie spent time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, where he focused on agentic AI and its implications for enterprise environments, before establishing his own advisory firm helping clients harness AI and disruptive technologies to drive change.
Aveni develops AI-native solutions for the financial services sector, with products including FinLLM — described as the UK’s first large language model purpose-built for financial services — and Aveni Detect, a platform designed to support assurance and compliance functions. The company’s focus sits at the intersection of AI capability and regulatory accountability, areas that are growing in strategic importance as financial institutions explore agent-driven operating models.
In his new role, Mackenzie will lead the company’s commercial strategy, with responsibility for scaling operations across the banking sector, steering product development towards more integrated assurance and compliance solutions, and pursuing strategic partnerships alongside international growth opportunities. His appointment is positioned as a signal of Aveni’s intention to capitalise on what it describes as a significant market inflection point — the shift away from human-led compliance towards agent-driven environments and the associated demand for rigorous risk and regulatory oversight.
Commenting on his appointment, Mackenzie said: “Aveni’s heritage and first-mover momentum in financial services AI are genuinely impressive. FinLLM, as the UK’s first LLM built for financial services, and the Aveni Detect capabilities are creating meaningful products on both sides of the execution boundary, and the company’s focus on assurance and compliance is squarely aligned with where the industry is heading. The opportunity to address the industry’s transformation into the agentic era, with Aveni at the forefront, is one I couldn’t pass up.”
Aveni CEO Joseph Twigg said, “The assurance landscape in financial services is undergoing a fundamental transformation with the introduction of AI agents predicted at scale. Kent’s combination of frontline banking experience, regulatory expertise, and a demonstrated ability to build and commercialise AI-driven platforms makes him uniquely placed to help Aveni lead that transformation. We’re delighted to welcome him to the team.”
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