Business
Firm’s Shareholders Get 8 Kobo Div
Customers queuing to obtain Bank Verification Number (BVN) at a bank in Garki, Area 3 in Abuja on Monday.
The management of C and I Leasing Plc has approved an 8 kobo dividend for every ordinary share of 50 kobo.
The amount which was approved during the 2014 Annual general meeting (AGM) of the company in Port Harcourt represents a hundred per cent increase in dividend pay out compared to last year 4 kobo.
The Chairman of the company AVM (rtd) Abdul D. Bello described the 2014 Financial year as a remarkable one for the group despite the challenging economic environment.
According to him, “Despite the challenging Macro-economic and tough business environment strong competition and heightened political uncertainties, in the country, C and I Leasing Plc posted gross earnings of N13.9 billion for the group and N12.3 billion for the company, in 2014.
“This represents a growth of 13 percent for the group and 22 percent for the company when compared to the corresponding figure of N12.5 billion and N10.2 billion achieved by the group and company respectively in 2013”, he said.
The Chairman also said that the strong improvement in the company’s revenue and profitability was driven by its Marine business and efficiency gains, while increase in profit after tax was a reflection of tax benefits arising from gains on discontinued operation of the company’s business segments Citrans Global.
It also said that, the company has deployed appropriate strategies to boost efficiency and profitability by leveraging on the company’s vast improved processes, enhanced capacities, group synergies, cost reduction measures and continuous innovations to maximize opportunities and ensure sustainable growth.
AVM Bello (rtd) also said that, the Board has decided to strengthen the company’s capital base and improve the health of its statement of financial position.
“I would like to reassure our esteemed shareholders that the group’s prospects are promising and bright. Indeed, the future is robust.
“We are confident that the company will continue to leverage on brand reputation scale of operations and innovations to grow market share and volume, steps up investments in our core business, drive down cost and increase our productivity and efficiency to enable us deliver top line and bottom delight of all shareholder’s he said.
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.
