Scottish AI fintech Aveni has launched the Agent Assurance Expert Council, or AAEC, as agentic AI activity picks up across financial services.
The council held its first meeting in Edinburgh on Thursday evening. Future sessions are expected in both London and Scotland.
Aveni set up the group in response to the sharp rise in agentic AI development across the sector. AAEC brings together fintech and AI leaders to push for protocols around control, security and transparency as firms build and deploy AI agents.
Kent Mackenzie, regtech adviser at Aveni, said AI agents mark a step change in financial services decision-making. He said assurance models and frameworks built around human-led processes no longer fit.
AI agents represent a step change in how decisions are made within financial services. Assurance models and frameworks built for human-led processes are no longer sufficient.
Kent Mackenzie, regtech adviser at Aveni
The council, he added, aims to help the industry define how it keeps control, transparency and trust as these systems scale. He said collaboration will decide whether firms meet regulatory expectations and still innovate in a responsible way.
“The Agent Assurance Expert Council is about bringing the industry together to define how we maintain control, transparency and trust as these systems scale. Collaboration will be essential to ensuring we meet regulatory expectations while continuing to innovate responsibly,” Kent Mackenzie said.
Last month, Aveni completed a pilot of its Agent Assurance offering in the Financial Conduct Authority’s first Supercharged Sandbox.
The company used the programme to show secure deployment of agentic AI in a regulated setting.
Aveni also launched a domain-specific large language model in 2025, backed by Lloyds and Nationwide.
