Target Group appoints Carla Stent as non-executive director. Stent brings executive and non-executive experience across financial services, technology, retail and travel. Target Group has appointed Carla Stent (pictured) as a non-executive director, following the recent addition of Paul Lynam to its board. Stent brings executive and non-executive experience across financial services, technology, retail and travel, having held senior leadership positions at organisations including Virgin Group, Barclays and Thomas Cook. Her previous roles include chief financial officer and chief operating officer positions, with experience spanning finance, operations, technology, customer outcomes and business transformation. Stent currently serves on the boards of Telecom Plus, which operates Utility Warehouse, and HBX Group, providing oversight across areas including risk, governance, audit, strategy and business transformation. She is also completing a professional qualification in executive coaching at Henley Business School. Stent said: "Target has built an impressive reputation for combining deep industry expertise with innovative technology and operational excellence. "What particularly stood out to me was the quality of its people, the strength of its client relationships and the ambition for the future. "I'm delighted to be joining the Board and look forward to supporting the leadership team as the business continues its growth journey." Shashi Bhat, chair of the board at Target Group, added: "Carla brings an exceptional combination of executive leadership experience and boardroom expertise. "Her insight across governance, risk, operations and transformation will be a tremendous asset to Target as The Intermediary continue to evolve and grow. "We are delighted to welcome her to the Board and look forward to the contribution she will make." Pete O'Connor, chief executive officer at Target Group, said: "Carla's experience helping organisations navigate risk, transformation and change makes her an excellent addition to Target. "Alongside Paul, she further strengthens the depth and diversity of expertise around its Board table as The Intermediary continue investing in its technology, its people and the services The Intermediary deliver to clients and their customers. "We are delighted to welcome her to the team."

Tech Mahindra launches AWS Agentic Process Transformation Center of Excellence. Tech Mahindra has launched an AWS Agentic Process Transformation (APT) Center of Excellence (CoE) through its Business Process Services (BPS) business, bringing together its process and domain expertise with AWS cloud and agentic AI technologies. Cloud computing services The CoE will focus on industries including telecommunications, healthcare, banking and financial services, retail and manufacturing. Its work will include developing industry-specific AI solutions, supporting cloud-based transformation and creating reusable delivery models around agentic AI. One application is already being used as an example: Collections Guru, an agentic AI system developed by Tech Mahindra and AWS and deployed by UK financial-services outsourcing company Target Group for arrears management. Target has reported efficiency gains of about 40% in the areas where the system has been deployed. About AWS Agentic Process Transformation CoE. The AWS Agentic Process Transformation Center of Excellence is a joint initiative centred on Tech Mahindra BPS and AWS technologies. It is an AI execution engine designed to help organisations develop and deploy industry-specific agentic AI solutions. It combines: Tech Mahindra BPS process expertise Cloud computing services AWS cloud infrastructure AWS AI and agentic capabilities industry-specific workflows governance and delivery frameworks The partnership brings different capabilities to the same system. Tech Mahindra's role: Tech Mahindra contributes its business-process expertise and industry knowledge, particularly through its BPS division. That includes experience in processes such as collections, customer service, fraud management, field-service support and other business workflows. Its role is essentially to understand how the business process works and where an AI agent could be inserted. AWS's role: Tech Mahindra says its AWS-based agentic solutions use services including Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Connect and AWS Step Functions, depending on the application. Tech Mahindra brings process and implementation expertise; AWS provides the cloud and AI technology stack. Collections Guru was developed by Tech Mahindra and AWS for Target Group, a UK-based financial-services outsourcing provider. Cloud computing services The tool is intended to help collections advisers manage and review arrears cases. It uses historical case information and operational procedures to provide guidance and recommendations during case handling. Collections Guru is the first production example, but Tech Mahindra's AWS page lists several other agentic solutions connected to its wider programme. These include: Agentic Payment Assistance and Collections Optimization for telecom operators. Fraud Sentinel for fraud investigation and analysis. Gen AI Technician Assist for field-service workers. Product Discovery Agent for online commerce. These use cases are spread over various industries but share a common architecture: AI is placed inside an existing operational process rather than being offered as a standalone chatbot. Global IT and BPO companies are increasingly building agentic AI factories, AI platforms and domain-specific agents rather than selling AI consulting alone. Tech Mahindra itself launched TechM Orion Marketplace in 2025 as an enterprise agentic-AI marketplace, while other recent moves have focused on agent factories and specialised AI solutions. The APT CoE is therefore another step in the same industry transition. The centre needs to demonstrate that agents can operate reliably inside real systems, that human monitoring remains effective, and that guaranteed efficiency improvements survive beyond controlled deployments. The real measure of this CoE will be whether similar results can be reproduced across telecom, banking, healthcare, retail and manufacturing workflows. A research-focused journalist covering enterprise technology, AI, and cybersecurity. Reporting combines market data, expert interviews, and on-ground industry inputs to produce accurate, context-driven stories for business decision-makers. She can be reached at [email protected]

Target Group appoints former Equiniti chief Paul Lynam to board. Published on 25 August 2026 Target Group has appointed financial services veteran Paul Lynam as a non-executive director. Lynam (pictured) has more than 35 years of experience in banking and financial services, including spells as chief executive of Equiniti Group and Secure Trust Bank. He previously spent more than two decades at NatWest and RBS, where he led several business divisions through periods of growth and restructuring. Lynam has also held a range of board and governance roles, alongside teaching, examining and other activities intended to support professional development in financial services. Lynam said: "I am delighted to be joining the Board of Target Group at such an exciting time for the business. Target has built a strong reputation across financial services, combining deep industry expertise with innovative technology and operational excellence. "I look forward to working with the Board and leadership team to support the company's continued growth and success." Shashi Bhat, chair of the board at Target Group, said: "Following a rigorous selection process and consideration of a number of outstanding candidates, the Board was unanimous in its view that Paul was the right person to join Mortgage Soup. "His extensive experience of scaling organisations, leading through transformation and operating across multiple markets will bring significant value to both the Board and the wider business. "I look forward to working closely with Paul as we continue to build on Target's success and deliver the next phase of our growth journey." Pete O'Connor, chief executive officer of Target Group, said: "Mortgage Soup is delighted to welcome Paul to the board. He brings a wealth of experience across financial services, a strong track record of leading organisations through change and growth, and valuable insight into the opportunities and challenges facing its sector. "We look forward to benefiting from his expertise and perspective as we continue to deliver for our clients, colleagues and partners."