Business
SEC Extends Companies Recapitalisation To Sept. 30, 2015
The Securities and Ex
change Commission (SEC) has announced the extension of date in minimum capital requirements for registered capital market operators expected to take off by January 1, 2015.
The apex regulators had on Wednesday approved an extension of the deadline for compliance by nine months, to 30th September 2015.
According to a statement by the SEC made available on their website, the board of the Securities and Exchange Commission at its meeting of 22nd December, 2014 reviewed the status report on the level of compliance by capital market operators with the new minimum capital requirement which has a compliance deadline of 31st December 2014.
The statement added that the Board expressed satisfaction with the efforts made by all operators, particularly those who have complied with the new requirements.
The Board however, took cognizance of the effort of the global economic situation and approved an extension of the deadline for compliance with the new minimum capital requirements by nine months to 30th September 2015.
The Tide learnt that the extension resulted from pressures by market operators on the SEC for an extension of the recapitalization deadline due to the ongoing uncertainties in the economic sector which had hampered market growth and development.
However, the apex capital market regulator had increased minimum capital base for broker/dealer by 329 per cent from the existing N70 million to N300 million.
Broker, which currently operates with capital base of N40 million will now be required to have N200 million representing an increase of 400 per cent.
Issuing house which facilitate new issues in the primary market will now be required to have minimum capital base of N200 million as against the current capital base of N50 million.
The capital requirement for underwriter also doubled from N100 million to N200 million .
A Registrar will now have a minimum capital base of N150 million as against the current requirement of N50 million while the minimum capital base for corporate investment adviser’s capital base is now N2 million from N500,000.
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.
