Business
SEC Approves Shares Buy-Back Window
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Tuesday approved share buy-back window as part of ongoing regulatory efforts to grow the nation’s capital market.
Our correspondent reports that the approval is coming four years after shareholders led by the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), made the recommendation to the Federal Government.
Mr Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), said at the Standard Bank West Africa Investors Conference in Lagos that the approval showed government’s commitment in leveraging long term savings through portfolio investments.
Under the new approved share buy-back scheme, quoted companies are allowed to buy-back 15 per cent of their authorised shares in a given year.
Onyema also announced that the council of the Exchange had intensified efforts to woo majority of the companies in the telecommunication, agriculture, solid minerals, oil and gas sub-sectors.
He said that such companies which control the mainstay of the nation’s economy remained the drivers of the Exchange’s projected $1 trillion market capitalisation in the next five years.
NSE boss told the cross section of the global fund managers, stockbrokers and investors that their efforts had yielded results as 20 companies had so far indicated interest in listing at the Exchange before the end of 2012.
According to him, NSE recent introduction of new investment products, plans for securities lending and short selling in the nation’s bourse are all aimed at enhancing and sustaining market-based liquidity.
Earlier, in a welcome address, Mr Atedo Peterside, the Chairman of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, had said that the conference with the theme “Nigeria: Bucking the Trend” was part of efforts to mobilise domestic and international investors on the huge potential of the nation.
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.