Cellulant hires ex-Xapo Bank executive Anthony Hernandez as COO

Cellulant, a pan-African payments firm, has appointed former Xapo Bank executive Anthony Hernandez as chief operating officer to strengthen operations as it scales across African markets.

This marks the latest addition to Cellulant’s leadership team. In February, the company hired Michael Muriuki as chief product and technology officer, and in March, Darren Makarem as chief financial officer, as part of a key restructuring following earlier exits.

Hernandez will oversee onboarding, transaction processing, and customer growth, with a focus on reducing failures and improving how payments are tracked across markets. He brings more than 25 years of experience across financial services and fintech, with senior roles at GE Capital and Demica, where he worked on operating models, regulatory approvals, and global teams. 

“In payments today, trust is the real currency, and operational excellence is what earns it. As we continue to grow our volumes and support market-leading businesses across Africa and beyond, we are deliberately strengthening our operational foundations,” Cellulant’s chief executive, Peter O’Toole, said in a statement to TechCabal. 

Hernandez said his focus will be on reducing transaction failures and settlement delays, and providing businesses with clearer data on how payments move across markets.

“Payment flexibility starts with access to the right options and is grown by how reliably those options work in practice,” Hernandez said. “Cellulant has built a powerful payment infrastructure for businesses operating across Africa, and I’m excited to join a team that is at the very heart of Africa’s digital economy.”

Founded in 2004, Cellulant enables businesses to accept payments across 20 African markets through a single integration, rather than building separate connections in each country. It processes 4.5 million transactions daily and reached profitability in 2024, as it looks to deepen its presence and compete with fintech rivals and banks building in-house payment systems.

The recent hires across product, finance, and now operations point to a company tightening execution as it handles more volume across markets where reliability and compliance remain uneven.