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Lorum has appointed Dr. Hartwig Gerhartinger as Chief Legal, Risk and Compliance Officer as it expands those teams during a period of rapid growth.
Gerhartinger joins from payments group Paysafe, where he spent 13 years and most recently served as Global Head of Regulatory, Government Affairs, Enterprise Risk and ESG. He oversaw regulatory and risk matters across a New York Stock Exchange-listed business operating under licences in North America, Europe and Latin America.
He will lead Lorum's legal, risk and compliance functions, adding senior oversight in areas central to its business model. Lorum provides correspondent banking infrastructure to financial institutions, fintech groups, payroll platforms and employer of record providers.
The appointment comes amid broader expansion. Lorum says it has recorded 15x growth so far this year.
That growth has coincided with a push to broaden its regulatory footing in the United States. In April, Lorum filed for a national trust bank charter with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Lorum presents itself as a specialist correspondent institution that lets clients hold, manage and move funds across currencies through a single connection. It offers multi-currency clearing, named custody accounts, cash management and foreign exchange through an application programming interface.
The company says many mid-market institutions still rely on layered correspondent relationships to access payment rails, a structure that can add cost and delay. Its pitch is that a direct relationship can simplify access for clients that need clearing, custody and treasury services.
Gerhartinger's background is likely to carry weight as Lorum builds those functions. His experience at Paysafe spanned regulation, government affairs and enterprise risk across multiple jurisdictions, areas especially relevant for firms handling cross-border money movement and custody arrangements.
George Davis, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lorum, outlined the company's view of the market in a statement on the appointment.
"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," said George Davis, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lorum.
"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," Davis added.
Gerhartinger also linked his move to what he sees as a gap in the market for financial institutions that have found access to correspondent banking harder to secure over the past decade.
"The institutions squeezed out of correspondent banking over the past decade were not failed by regulation, they were failed by economics," said Dr. Hartwig Gerhartinger, Chief Legal, Risk and Compliance Officer of Lorum.
"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," he added.
The hire adds to a series of moves by Lorum as it seeks to present itself not simply as a fintech service provider but as a regulated institution with direct links into the financial system. In that context, senior legal, compliance and risk appointments are a core part of its effort to win clients that depend on secure handling of funds and regulatory assurance.
The recent OCC filing adds another layer to that effort. A national trust bank charter would place Lorum in a different category from many financial technology infrastructure providers, bringing it closer to the regulatory framework traditionally associated with banking and custody activities.
For a business centred on correspondent services, that distinction matters because clients are likely to judge it not only on cost and technical integration, but also on governance, controls and supervisory standing. Those issues have become more prominent as regulators and counterparties place greater scrutiny on cross-border payments, safeguarding of funds and anti-money laundering systems.
Lorum serves a market that includes mid-sized financial institutions and payment service providers that often need access to clearing and treasury tools without the complexity of stitching together multiple banking relationships. The latest senior appointment suggests the company sees regulatory structure and internal controls as essential to competing for that business.