Dirk Loscher Appointed to RAQUEST Advisory Board

WHY THIS MATTERS
RAQUEST’s appointment of Dirk Loscher signals the increasing importance of post-trade infrastructure innovation—particularly in areas like withholding tax, which remains one of the most complex and inefficient parts of cross-border investing. Despite advances in trading and settlement, tax reclaim and compliance processes are still largely fragmented, manual, and jurisdiction-specific, creating friction for global investors and custodians alike.

Bringing in a senior leader from Clearstream—one of Europe’s most critical market infrastructures—adds institutional credibility and deep domain expertise to RAQUEST’s ambitions. It also reflects a wider industry push to modernise back-office processes, where automation and harmonisation can unlock significant efficiency gains. As regulatory scrutiny increases and cross-border investment continues to grow, solving withholding tax complexity is becoming less of a niche problem and more of a systemic priority for financial institutions.

RAQUEST, a German fintech and market leader in  withholding tax technology solutions for financial institutions, has appointed Dirk Loscher, CEO of Clear stream Europe AG and Head of Custody & Investor Solutions, to its Advisory Board. He joins an experienced  panel that includes Peer Steinbrück, former German Minister of Finance, Karl von Rohr, former Chairman  of the DWS Supervisory Board, and Lourdes Bustos, former EU Commission policymaker.  

Dirk Loscher brings more than 20 years of experience in international financial services. He initiated his  career in global custody at Dresdner Bank and spent over two decades at Citibank, most recently as Cluster  Head of Securities Services for Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece. In 2022, he joined Clear stream Europe AG as Head of Custody & Investor Solutions, becoming CEO in 2024. 

The RAQUEST Advisory Board is an external body of financial experts that supports the company with stra tegic guidance, market insight, and international expansion. 

“We are very proud to welcome Dirk Loscher to our Advisory Board,” said Alexander Lerch, CEO and Co Founder of RAQUEST. “His deep understanding of financial markets, combined with his extensive leader ship experience in global custody and securities services, will provide valuable perspectives to RAQUEST.  We are confident that his expertise will support our strategic development and will further strengthen our  position as we expand internationally.” 

Dirk Loscher, CEO of Clearstream Europe AG and Head of Custody & Investor Solutions, added: “I am hon oured to join RAQUEST’s Advisory Board, combining the much-needed innovation power in the withholding  tax space with our long-standing expertise as central market infrastructure. Harmonizing and automating  withholding tax processes has the potential to remove significant barriers to cross-border investment flows,  ultimately fostering a more unified and efficient financial market in Europe and across the globe.” 

FF NEWS TAKE
This move positions RAQUEST to bridge the gap between fintech innovation and traditional market infrastructure. With figures like Peer Steinbrück and now Dirk Loscher on its advisory board, the company is clearly building influence at both regulatory and institutional levels—key for scaling in a highly regulated space.

The real challenge will be execution. Withholding tax reform requires alignment across jurisdictions, regulators, and market participants—something no single provider can control. However, if RAQUEST can embed its technology within existing custody and post-trade workflows, it has a strong opportunity to become a meaningful player in modernising a long-overlooked part of the financial ecosystem.