Avtar Sehmbi

Avtar Sehmbi is a Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer. He leads global operations, technology, transformation and risk across business divisions of Fortune 50, Big 4 and FTSE 100 organisations. His career spans financial services and highly regulated industries, including investment banking, insurance, energy and telecommunications, with leadership experience across more than 60 markets. He runs the operating disciplines that determine enterprise performance, including organisational design, cost, execution, resilience, governance, technology, data and risk.

Leading global change across market entry, expansion and exit, he has directed the operations, technology and risk dimensions of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures approaching $80 billion. Through restructuring programmes and the establishment of Global Capability Centres, he managed workforce transitions involving thousands of roles across international delivery hubs.

Alongside his executive duties, he has held statutory board responsibilities, providing oversight of strategy, performance, capital allocation and succession. His executive remit has included operational risk, elements of financial risk oversight, consent-order remediation, direct engagement with regulators and supervisory authorities, and the governance of international joint ventures and their shareholder groups.

Opening new revenue streams, he built greenfield technology and operations capabilities across Asia, the Gulf and Africa. He has also led responsible innovation at scale as Chair of the Ethical AI and Cloud Centres of Excellence, governing AI adoption across more than 30 markets and leading regulatory readiness across emerging requirements, including the EU AI Act and DORA.

His work has included the technology, operations and risk workstreams within major transformations for organisations such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and London Stock Exchange Group.