Business
Stockbrokers Set Agenda For Jonathan
As the Acting President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan settle down for the business of governance, stockbrokers in the country listed the areas of the economy he is expected to focus on during his acting capacity.
According to the stockbrokers who spoke with The Tide source, the acting President should focus on the implementation of the 2010 budget and fast track the passage of the Asset Management’s bill currently before the National Assembly.
The brokers also reiterated the need to follow up and ensure that the bill is implemented once it is passed, to enhance the speedy recovery of the stock market.
Speaking on the development, the former President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Mr. Okechukwu Onuegbu said the acting President should overhaul the economic team as presently constituted and fast track the implementation of the AMC.
He said that the acting President should focus on the immediate restructuring of his economic team, noting, “I do not see the team as presently constituted, being able to proffer solutions to the economic problems on ground. He should ensure the immediate passage of the AMC bill with the provision that the government or its agencies should hold about 49 per cent of the equity instead of 100 per cent.
“The on-going financial structure should continue, but the procedure should follow financial tenets. Emphasis should be placed on ethics and corporate governance to ensure strong institution capacity building in education, industries as well as addressing unemployment issues should be given adequate attention.
In a related development, another stockbroker, who is also the Managing Director of GTI Capital Ltd, Mr. Abubaka Lawal supported the views of Unuegbu on the issue of AMC and also stressed the need for government to work on power generation and amnesty in the Niger Delta, to attract foreign investors.
He said the acting president should present the budget for 2010 and ensure fiscal discipline and execution of major projects.
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.
