Business
Stakeholders Fault SEC Over e-Dividend Implementation
Chairman, Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), Prof Augustine Ahiauzu (middle), addressing staff of his commission at an interactive session. He is flanked byCommissioner for Political Parties Affairs, Mrs Kattryn Ajaji (right) and Commissioner for Adhoc Staff Recruitment, Dr. Mrs Vinida Fubara (left). Photo: Chris Monyanaga
Some shareholders in the capital market have blamed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for failure to implement the e-dividend policy four years after it was launched.
They told our correspondent in Lagos on Tuesday that SEC had failed to put up the required massive enlightenment campaigns on the policy.
Electronic dividend payment is the process of crediting shareholders’ accounts within 24 hours after a company pays dividends. It was launched by SEC in February 2008.
Mr Boniface Okezie, the President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, said that SEC might have failed to enlighten the public because of its plan to establish unclaimed dividend trust fund.
He said that e-dividend, if implemented, would reduce the incidence of unclaimed dividends to the barest minimum.
Okezie said that SEC also failed to meet company registrars, service providers and banks on problems being encountered in remitting dividends.
He said that most shareholders were not interested in the e-dividend policy due to some banks’ insistence on current accounts for e-dividend payment.
Okezie advised SEC to liaise with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure that all commercial banks accepted both savings and current accounts for e-dividend payment.
Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo, a founding member of Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA), said that the country’s poor postal system contributed to the problem of unclaimed dividend.
He said that uncooperative attitude of some banks on payment of dividends into savings accounts made some investors to shun the policy.
Olatokunbo, however, said that the shareholder groups were doing their best in educating investors on the benefits of the policy.
President of NSSA, Mr Timothy Adesiyan, said that investors with small dividends were being discouraged from subscribing to the policy due to insistence of banks on payment into current accounts.
According to Adesiyan, most registrars cannot implement the policy because some shareholders failed to return their e-dividend payment forms after completion.
Another shareholder, Mr James Osoka, said that many investors, especially those outside the cities, were not aware of the policy.
Osoka advised SEC to use the three major languages in the country to enlighten shareholders on the policy so as to reduce the incidence of unclaimed dividends.
He said that enlightenment campaigns on the policy should not only be done in the cities.
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.
