Aveni Launches FinLLM with Backing from Lloyds and Nationwide
UK fintech Aveni has unveiled FinLLM, a large language model specifically designed for the financial services industry, developed with support from Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide. Built over six months by Aveni Labs, FinLLM aligns with compliance, safety, and performance standards set by the FCA and EU AI Act, making it purpose-built for regulated financial environments.
The launch follows an £11 million Series A round in July 2023, which included strategic investment from both Lloyds and Nationwide. Since then, both institutions have played active roles in the co-creation and testing of FinLLM on live AI use cases.
Ranil Boteju, Group Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Lloyds, described FinLLM as a “game changer” for UK financial services, highlighting its seamless integration with the broader Aveni product suite and the model’s potential to transform operations at scale. Nationwide’s Chief Data Officer Sri Kanisapakkam echoed the sentiment, emphasizing strong performance benchmarks and customer impact.
Aveni reports that FinLLM consistently outperforms general-purpose LLMs in financial tasks while holding its own on standard benchmarks. With foundational capabilities now in place, the model is entering live deployment across functions such as risk and compliance, adviser processes, and operational oversight.
CEO Joseph Twigg stated that FinLLM, with a focus on AI safety, ethics, and transparency, positions itself as a trustworthy, UK-built alternative to U.S.-based general LLMs—especially as the market shifts toward domain-specific AI agents.
