Unsaturated groups conjugated to the site of attack (aromatic rings, alkenes, carbonyl groups) all tend to have the effect of increasing the rate of an SN2 reaction at that centre.
As an example, displacement by nucleophilic iodide in acetone as a solvent is ca. 30x faster for allyl chloride than ethyl chloride, with benzyl chloride being faster still.[1]
The effect was initially thought to be steric, given that unsaturated groups are sp2 hybridised (and therefore planar) and allow the nucleophile a less hindered approach, but many empirical and computational studies now dispute that, with a stereoelectronic effect[*] widely accepted (though sterics may play a small role).
Empirical Evidence for a Stereoelectronic Effect
One of the earliest indications that the effect was stereoelectronic was via a series of experiments conducted by Payne (shown below) [2].The open (acyclic) compound reacts ca. 8000x faster than the closed (cyclic) compound. To understand why, we have to consider the orbitals involved...

The Orbital Explanation
If we accept a stereoelectronic effect (coming back to Payne’s findings later), we then have to decide whether the effect is a ground state effect (weakening of the C-X bond, raising the energy) or a transition state effect (stabilisation of the TS, lowering the energy). To quote Fleming (emphasis my own):[3]
[This conjugation] may partly operate by raising the energy of the starting material, but most probably [the conjugating groups] are primarily operating to lower the energy of the transition structures.
In practice, computational studies [4] prove this to be the case, with the pi bond interacting with the principal axis of the SN2 transition state (sigma-pi conjugation):

Calculation of bond lengths also agrees with this mode of conjugation, with the C-C bond length decreasing upon stabilisation of the TS:

Hopefully, by this point, Payne's experimental results are obvious. In the cyclic structure, there is no way of allowing the pi-orbitals on benzene to correctly align with the SN2 transition state (given that we know the TS is linear, not bent).
One final thing to notice is that in both the alkene and carbonyl case (as in your question) the dominant effect is thought to be as above (sigma-pi conjugation).
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[1]: March, J.; Smith, M. B. Advanced Organic Chemistry Wiley: Hoboken, New Jersey, 2007
[2]: King, J. F.; Tsang, G. T. Y.; Abdel-Malik, M. M.; Payne, N.C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1985, 107, 3224
[3]: Fleming, I. Molecular Orbitals & Organic Chemical Reactions:Reference Edition Wiley: Hoboken, New Jersey, 2010
[4]: Bach, R. D.; Soddens, B. A.; Wolber, G. J. J. Org. Chem. 1986, 51, 1030
[*]: Sorry Jan, couldn’t help myself with the bold, I’m not shouting, I promise…