Business
FIRS Unveils New Tax Regime For Multinationals
The Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), has unveiled a new tax assessment system that would ensure proper taxation of multinational companies and enterprises operating in the country.
The Acting Executive Chairman of FIRS, Mr Kabir Mashi, unveiled the new regime at the second stakeholders’ sensitisation on “Transfer Pricing (TP) Returns” in Abuja.
Mashi, represented by the Coordinating Director, Field Operation Group, Mr Ajayi Bamidele, said the regime would help fight tax evasion embedded in “under-pricing” of controlled transactions among enterprises.
He said that TP would reduce the risk of double taxation, provide taxable persons with certainty and a level playing field between multinational enterprises and independent enterprises doing business in Nigeria.
The Acting Chairman said the programme was meant to make the various guidelines, forms and documents that would be used to file the TP returns in line with the relevant tax laws.
He said Nigeria adopted the regulations and began implementation on transfer pricing to address the problem associated with shifting profit among enterprises.
“The objective is to ensure that taxpayers in Nigeria are taxed on appropriate taxable basis corresponding to the economic activity deployed by them in Nigeria,” he said.
Mashi also stressed the need for all businesses to play by the rules, adding that the new regime could reposition the country for sustainable economic growth and rapid development.
He solicited the cooperation of all stakeholders for the successful implementation of the TP regime and emphasised voluntary compliance with the provisions of the TP regulations and the extant tax laws.
“For us in FIRS, the goal is to implement the transfer pricing regime transparently, efficiently and effectively so as to promote voluntary compliance,” he said.
The Acting chairman, said that the programme was packaged to guide, sensitise and educate companies on their TP obligations.
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.
