Business
NSE: Index, Capitalisation Rise Slightly As Value Crashes
Transactions on the floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange Thursday seemed to be affected by the forth coming Easter public holidays as some market indicators crashed marginally.
Specifically, market closed slightly higher at 25,966.25 points compeard to 25,836.29 points of Wednesday’s trading.
Market capitalisation also closed higher at N6.28 trillion from N6.25 trillion, adding N31,44 billion or 0.48 percent to the previous day transaction.
The volume of traded equities crashed by 382,656,672 shares or 48.34 percent when investors bought a total of 408,781,638 shares worth N2.75 billion in 10,252 deals in contrast to 791,438,310 shares worth N7.55 billion in 12,183 deals on Wednesday.
Also the volue of traded equities crashed by N4.79 billion or 63.58 percent, signifying investor’s early withdrawal from NSE in preparation for the holidays.
The gainers chart was led by Flowmill, Julius Berger and NNFM who opened and closed N61.06/N64, N34.73/ N36.44 and N30.79/ N32.32 respectively.
Losers chart however was led by PZ, Cadbury and Nahco which opened and closed N31.35/N30.42, N18.77/ N18.2 and N11.52/N11.03 respectively.
The sectoral total was N408,781,638 shares worth N2.75 billion in 10,252 deals.
The banking sub-sector was the toast of investors as 124,370,966 shares worth N1.17 billion exchanged hands in 3,462 deals.
Banking sector’s trading was boosted by investors’ interest in the shares of Access, Fidelity and UBA.
Business
Wealth Creation: GCPBS Convenes Strategic Investment Workshop In PH
Banking/ Finance
Ripple Survey Reveals Appetite for Digital Assets
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.
