Business
Operators Foresee Further Lull In Capital Market
Some capital market operators has predicted that the current lull in the capital market might persist till the second quarter of 2016.
They told newsmen in Lagos that the market might not recover until the implementation of 2016 budget would have started.
Mallam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director, APT Securities and Funds Ltd., Lagos, said that activities in capital market would continue to be low key because of investors’ apathy.
Kurfi said the slide in crude oil price, the security challenges and depreciation of the nation’s currency were major issues affecting the capital market.
He said the government’s stance on currency devaluation was scaring foreign investors away from the capital market because they felt the naira was ‘unfairly’ valued.
Kurfi urged the government to close the wide margin between the official and parallel markets’ rates to boost foreign investors’ confidence.
Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf, the immediate Past President, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), said that there were other factors which were yet to be addressed.
Yussuf said there was no attraction to the market at the moment although the market fundamentals were strong.
He called on investors to take advantage of the relatively low price of some stocks to increase their stakes in the market.
Reports say that investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange lost N555 billion as a result of price losses between Jan. 4 and Jan. 11.
The All-Share Index, which opened for the year at 28,642.25, has also lost 2252.07 points by Jan. 11 to close trading at 26,390.16 points.
The market capitalisation, which opened for the year at N9.850 trillion, shed N555 billion to close at N9.295 trillion due to massive sell pressure.
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.
