Cellulant Names Ex-Xapo Bank Exec Anthony Hernandez COO

In Short

Cellulant has appointed Anthony Hernandez as chief operating officer. Cellulant is a pan-African payments company. The hire is aimed at improving day to day execution as the firm scales across African markets.

What Happened

Cellulant said Hernandez, a former Xapo Bank executive, will run key operational areas. These include merchant onboarding, transaction processing, and customer growth.

Transaction processing is the behind the scenes flow that moves money from a customer to a merchant through rails like cards, bank transfers, or mobile money. Hernandez is expected to reduce payment failures, and improve how transactions are tracked across different countries.

The appointment follows other recent leadership changes at Cellulant. In February, the company hired Michael Muriuki as chief product and technology officer. In March, it hired Darren Makarem as chief financial officer, after earlier executive exits.

Hernandez has more than 25 years of experience in financial services and fintech. Cellulant said he has held senior roles at GE Capital and Demica, where he worked on operating models, regulatory approvals, and managing global teams.

Why It Matters

For payments firms, reliability is the product. A “failed” payment can mean lost sales for merchants, higher support costs, and lower trust with banks and mobile money partners.

Cellulant’s focus on operational excellence signals that it is prioritising scale readiness. That usually means fewer outages, clearer reconciliation (matching payments to the right customer and merchant), and faster issue resolution across markets.

It also reflects a broader fintech trend in Africa. As volumes grow, companies often add experienced operators to strengthen compliance, risk controls, and delivery for enterprise customers.