Lorum appoints Hartwig Gerhartinger as legal chief

Lorum has appointed Dr. Hartwig Gerhartinger as Chief Legal, Risk and Compliance Officer as the financial infrastructure company expands those teams.

Gerhartinger joins from Paysafe, where he spent 13 years and most recently served as Global Head of Regulatory, Government Affairs, Enterprise Risk and ESG. There, he oversaw regulatory and risk matters across a payments group listed on the New York Stock Exchange and operating under licences in North America, Europe and Latin America.

The appointment brings a senior regulatory specialist to Lorum as it reports 15x growth so far this year. In April, the group filed for a national trust bank charter with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Lorum operates in correspondent banking, providing multi-currency clearing, named custody accounts, cash management and foreign exchange through an application programming interface. Its clients include mid-market financial institutions, fintech groups, payment service provider infrastructure businesses, payroll companies and employer of record platforms.

The company positions itself as a direct-access provider for institutions that would otherwise rely on layers of correspondent banking relationships to move funds across currencies. Through a single relationship, those institutions can hold, manage and move money.

Compliance build-out

The hire underscores the importance of governance and controls as Lorum grows in a heavily regulated area of financial services. Legal, risk and compliance oversight is particularly important for businesses involved in custody, clearing and treasury-related services, where counterparties and regulators typically demand strong internal controls.

Gerhartinger will lead those functions at Lorum. His background at Paysafe spanned regulation, government affairs, enterprise risk and environmental, social and governance matters, giving him experience across several areas often central to expansion plans for financial companies operating in multiple jurisdictions.

George Davis, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lorum, linked the appointment to the company's broader aims in correspondent banking.

"Correspondent banking underpins the global economy, and the system itself works. What has not worked is the set of incentives and intermediaries that built up around it," Davis said.

"We are building the institution that realigns those incentives, and bringing in a leader of Hartwig's standing reflects the company we intend to become."

Growth stage

Lorum's charter filing with the OCC marks another step in its expansion. A national trust bank charter can provide a path for companies handling custody and related banking services to operate under a federal regulatory framework in the United States, although approval is not automatic and the process can be lengthy.

Lorum has also recently highlighted work on yield-bearing cash management. Together with its OCC filing and the latest executive appointment, that suggests product development and regulatory structure are advancing in parallel.

This matters in a sector where financial institutions and fintech firms are under pressure to manage compliance obligations while finding reliable ways to move money across borders. Mid-market institutions in particular can face higher costs and reduced access when correspondent banking networks become more concentrated or risk-averse.

Gerhartinger said that dynamic was central to his decision to join.

"The institutions squeezed out of correspondent banking over the past decade were not failed by regulation, they were failed by economics," Gerhartinger said.

"Building infrastructure that serves them again, to the standard regulators expect of a bank, is the most consequential mandate in financial services right now. That is why I joined."