Business
SEC, Accountants Collaborate On IFRS Compliance
The securities and Ex
change Commission (SEC) is set to collaborate with members of the Association of Reporting Accountants in the Capital Market (ARACM to ensure the full compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) rules.
The Acting Director General of SEC, Mr Mounir Gwarzo, disclosed this in Abuja recently when members of ARACM paid him a courtesy visit.
Gwarzo said the commission was having some challenges with some companies migrating to adopt IFRS rules and thereby expressed the willingness of the commission to partner with the Association for a smooth transition to IFRS rules by most companies operating in Nigeria.
He explained that SEC does not have the regulatory power to force any group or individual to belong to trade group, rather the commission would encourage people and individual to join trade groups.
The Acting DG said the commission was poised to ensure that major disciplines in the capital market have their associations, stressing that allowing trade groups to handle issues before escalating to a more tense level would allow the commission to be more focused in discharging its responsibilities as the apex regulator of the Nigeria’s Capital Market.
Also speaking, Chairman of the association, Mr Ayodele Othihiwa said members of the association have crucial role to play when new issues or transactions are being done.
Ayodele said auditors are more important in creating transparency through the financial statement sign-off by them that formed major information to operators in the capital market.
He said one of the things happening generally following the global financial crisis was the new challenges to the kind of report that emanated from auditors.
The association chairman called for collaboration with SEC in the area of capacity building in the capital market to stabilise the market.
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.