Full original interview → https://valiantceo.com/ai-strategy-insights-with-chris-livesey-of-autorek/
Chris Livesey explains how AutoRek combines industry expertise with partnerships and AI to modernize financial controls. The company’s work with Microsoft and Capgemini supports international growth while helping institutions replace fragmented processes with faster automation. This networking-focused perspective shows how collaboration can strengthen innovation and create more practical transformation outcomes.
Chris Livesey, CEO of AutoRek, is redefining how financial institutions approach reconciliations. Since taking the helm in 2023, he’s driven global partnerships, expanded AutoRek’s U.S. presence, and embedded AI into the company’s core. Chris’s background in scaling businesses through innovation and culture shapes his vision to position AutoRek not just as software, but as a digital transformation partner. A keen advocate for smarter automation, Chris helps firms navigate complex data with greater speed and less risk.
Company: AutoRek
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Chris Livesey: Thank you for having me! I’m Chris Livesey, CEO of AutoRek, and I’m delighted to share our story with ValiantCEO Magazine’s readers.
I joined AutoRek 18 months ago after spending years watching the reconciliation space from various vantage points in the financial services industry. What drew me here was the remarkable foundation – a 30-year-old company with deep expertise in solving one of finance’s most persistent challenges: managing the chaos of reconciling millions of daily transactions across fragmented systems.
AutoRek is an end-to-end financial controls platform that automates reconciliations, data management, and reporting for some of the world’s largest financial institutions. Our clients in asset management collectively manage over $6.5 trillion in assets, while our insurance clients handle over $1.3 billion in gross written premiums. In the payments space, we’re processing over $4 trillion in annual transactions.
What excites me most about leading AutoRek is the transformation we’re driving. We’re taking a company that’s been the backbone of financial operations for three decades and evolving it for the next era. In my time here, we’ve expanded our partnerships with Microsoft, Capgemini, and others, opened our first U.S. office, and launched groundbreaking innovations like our AI agent, Aria – the industry’s first autonomous agent that can operate our platform through natural language.
At our core, we help financial institutions replace their spreadsheets and manual processes with intelligent automation. It’s not the most glamorous part of finance, but when you’re helping firms reduce operational costs by 50% and cut reconciliation time by 90%, you’re fundamentally changing how they compete and grow. That’s what gets me up in the morning.
What specific areas of your business have been most impacted by AI, and how?
Chris Livesey: Aside from Aria, we’re already seeing AI reshape our business in profound ways.
Solution development is being revolutionized – what traditionally takes 10-12 weeks will compress to just days. That’s not incremental improvement; it’s transformation.
Customer empowerment is accelerating dramatically. We already have clients building solutions independently through our AutoRek Academy. With Aria, they’ll interact using natural language instead of complex technical commands. This democratizes access to sophisticated reconciliation capabilities.
Strategic growth has been turbocharged by our Microsoft partnership and AI development. It’s no coincidence we’re opening our first U.S. office and launching Aria simultaneously – AI is our competitive edge in new markets.
Operational scale is perhaps the most exciting. One client processes 20 million transactions daily through our platform. With AI, they can handle exponential growth without expanding their team proportionally.
We’re evolving from software provider to digital transformation partner. When you combine automation that cuts manual effort by 60% with AI that makes it accessible to everyone, you don’t just improve operations – you redefine what’s possible in financial reconciliation.
How are you ensuring ethical considerations are taken into account in your use of AI?
Chris Livesey: Ethical AI isn’t optional in financial services – it’s fundamental when you’re handling trillions in client assets. Our Microsoft Azure partnership provides enterprise-grade security and governance frameworks from day one. We don’t just inherit their technology; we inherit their accountability standards. This foundation ensures that every aspect of our AI deployment meets the highest ethical standards.
Aria is designed as a “digital colleague,” not a replacement. Every action requires human oversight, with complete audit trails ensuring accountability. There are no black boxes here – just transparent, traceable operations that our clients can trust and verify.
We spent nine months with a focused team developing Aria, choosing careful iteration over rushed implementation. We’re rolling out incrementally, starting with the reconciler role, learning and adjusting as we scale. This measured approach reflects our commitment to getting it right, not just getting it fast.
The bottom line? In financial services, trust is everything. Our AI enhances financial integrity rather than compromising it. When you’re reconciling millions of transactions daily, ethical AI isn’t just good practice – it’s the only acceptable approach.
What advice would you give to other CEOs looking to integrate AI into their business?
Chris Livesey: Having just navigated this journey myself, I’d offer several insights to fellow CEOs considering AI integration.
First, resist the pressure to rush. We spent nine months developing Aria with a small, focused team, despite seeing competitors make AI claims without substance behind them. Taking time to build genuine capabilities rather than marketing buzzwords has positioned us to deliver real value when we launch in May 2025.
Start with a clear business problem, not the technology. For us, it was obvious: our clients were drowning in manual processes, with 57% of asset management firms still using spreadsheets for reconciliation. We knew AI could transform solution development from 10-12 weeks to days. That clarity of purpose guided every decision.
Partner strategically. Our collaboration with Microsoft wasn’t just about technology – it gave us access to their Azure infrastructure, their labs in Germany, and most importantly, their experience in enterprise AI deployment. Don’t try to build everything in-house when world-class partners can accelerate your journey.
Think about AI as augmenting human capability, not replacing it. We designed Aria as a digital colleague that makes our platform accessible to non-technical users through natural language. This approach reduces resistance and accelerates adoption.
Be transparent about your timeline and capabilities. We’ve been open that Aria is launching in 2025, and we’re starting with one persona, – the reconciler, before expanding. This measured approach builds trust with clients who operate in highly regulated environments.
Finally, ensure your existing foundation is solid. We have 30 years of reconciliation expertise and a platform already processing $4 trillion in annual transactions. AI amplifies what you have – it doesn’t fix fundamental business model issues.
The biggest risk isn’t moving too slowly; it’s implementing AI without purpose. Make it meaningful, make it real, and make it solve actual problems your customers face.
How do you see AI evolving in your industry over the next 5 years?
Chris Livesey: The reconciliation landscape will be unrecognizable in five years. With 79% of firms already struggling with data volumes and transaction volumes set to jump 39% in two years, we’re heading toward an operational crisis that manual processes simply can’t handle.
I see AI evolving in three waves. First, natural language interfaces like our Aria will democratize access to complex platforms – crucial when 44% of firms cite skills gaps as their biggest challenge. Second, AI will shift from assisting to actively operating. We’re designing Aria to handle routine reconciliations autonomously, escalating only true exceptions to humans. Third, AI will become predictive – not just reconciling today’s transactions but anticipating tomorrow’s breaks and suggesting optimizations.
This transformation is especially critical as markets move toward 24-hour trading and instant payments. The industry knows this – 96% of firms plan to maintain or increase automation budgets. But success requires more than technology. It demands rethinking operational models and bringing people along on the journey.
The firms that thrive will embrace AI now as a strategic enabler. We’re not talking about replacing humans but creating human-AI teams that can handle complexity and scale that neither could manage alone. In five years, firms still relying on spreadsheets won’t just be inefficient – they’ll be unable to compete.
