Episode Details

Most fintechs treat cross border payments as a cost centre. George Davis built a business that treats it as the $100B infrastructure opportunity nobody else is rebuilding, and grew 55X in 12 months doing it.

In this episode I speak with George, Co-Founder and CEO of Lorum, a global clearing and settlement infrastructure business serving financial institutions across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and beyond. George is a serial founder who previously co-founded BVNK before leaving to rebuild the layer of the payments stack that big banks have left untouched.

Key takeaways:

• The payment system isn't broken; banks running it are wrongly incentivised
• Why stablecoins add friction to cross border payments rather than removing them
• How mid market fintechs can access wholesale treasury rates and turn FX into a profit centre
• What access to clearing infrastructure actually means for remittance, payroll, and import-export businesses
• Why Lorum 55X'd in 12 months by going after the bottom of the payments stack

George also shares the founder mindset behind Lorum's growth: first principles thinking, radical adaptability, and hiring for obsession over experience.

👉 Connect with George:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgedavis-lorum/

Website: https://www.lorum.com/

👉 Connect with Monica:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares

Website: https://www.purposedrivenfintech.com/

[00:00:00] Why clearing and settlement is the real barrier to cross border payments

[00:01:00] George's journey: machine learning startup to co-founding BVNK to Lorum

[00:04:00] Why big banks are wrongly incentivised

[00:07:00] What clearing and settlement actually means in plain English

[00:10:00] Access is the real problem; not speed, not cost

[00:18:00] How to turn FX and clearing into a profit centre, not a cost centre

[00:26:00] Why stablecoins don’t fix cross border payments

[00:35:00] The founder mindset: first principles thinking and obsession as a superpower

[00:46:00] Lorum's OCC banking licence application and the road to $100B

[00:49:00] Why the opportunity outside the US is bigger than inside it

Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email Monica at fintechwithmoni@gmail.com

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.