Business
Bank Sacks 400 Workers
Sterling Bank Plc, has sacked 400 workers in a systematic mass retrenchment aimed at reducing overhead cost. The Tide investigation showed that 97 per cent of the retrenched workers were former staff of Equatorial Trust Bank Ltd. acquired by Sterling.
A source close to the bank said that the mass sack, which started about three weeks ago would also affect another 150 workers because of the consolidation of the two banks.
He said that workers were thrown into the nation’s saturated labour market with only three months’ salary as severance package.
Executive Management staff, who wants to remain anonymous said that the retrenchment was their best option toward sustainable growth and return to profitability.
He said that the workers were only victims of the economy, adding that they had to relieve them of their jobs to grow the bank.
The Tide recalls that Mr Yemi Adeola, the Managing Director of Sterling Bank had at a recent annual general meeting, said that the business combination with former ETB had improved its scale and size.
Adeola said that the combination allowed the bank to leverage on the unique strengths of both banks to consolidate on overall market position.
According to him, 2012 would be another challenging operating year following current difficult global and local macro economic conditions.
“We see clear opportunities for reducing the bank’s cost-to-income ratio and increase revenues as the improved economic of scale arising from the business combination with ETB kick in,’’ Adeola said.
Meanwhile, Sterling Bank before the business combination grew its gross earnings by 49 per cent to N45.2 billion in 2011 compared with N30.4 billion in 2010.
The operating income in the period under review increased by 32 per cent to N27 billion from N20.4 billion in 2010.
Profit after tax increased by 11 per cent to N4.6 billion as against N4.2 billion in 2010.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.