Business
Skye Bank’s Shares Drop Further By 8.42%
Skye Bank’s shares on Fri
day on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have dropped further by 8.42 per cent following investors continued reaction to removal of the bank’s board and executive management.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) removed the board and management of the bank on Monday, and replaced them with another, a measure it said, was to redirect the bank.
The Tide reports that the bank trading last week, lost 8k to close at 87k per share. The bank’s shares had depreciated by 9.5 per cent.
A breakdown of the activity chart on the Exchange showed that investors sold 21.59 million shares of Skye Bank valued at N18.79 million.
Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf, immediate past President, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), said that the shares of the bank were on offer but nobody was buying.
Yussuf urged the new management of the bank to map out strategies to assure and reassure shareholders and investors.
Meanwhile, the new management of Skye Bank Plc has said that they would shore up the bank’s liquidity to enhance its profitability within the shortest period.
Mr Tokunbo Abiru, Skye Bank new Managing director, made the declaration during a courtesy visit to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos to address the market on the status of the bank.
Abiru said that the new management came on an intervention mission and would work on key areas to boost the bank’s confidence.
He stated that the bank’s cost per income ratio would be brought to an acceptable level.
Alhaji MK Ahmad, the bank’s new Chairman, assured the shareholders, depositors and customers that the bank was not in distress and would be stabilised.
Ahmad explained that the bank had just corporate governance issues which would be addressed within the shortest period.
Ahmad said the past management had to go because they tried their best in addressing the issues but could not solve them.
He said that the apex bank had stated categorically that it would support the bank no matter “whatever it takes”.
Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf, the doyen of stockbrokers, called on the management to work on strategies that would turn round the bank.
“You need to work very hard and fast to assure the shareholders on strategies to revitalise the bank.
“You have a lot of the bank’s share on offer and nobody is buying,” Yussuf said.
He said that the management needed to come out with its plans to assure the shareholders.
Yussuf said stockbrokers would work with the management team to boost investor confidence.
It would recalled that the apex bank on July 4 sacked Skye Bank’s chairman, Mr Olatunde Ayeni, and Mr Timothy Oguntayo, the Managing Director.
The apex bank appointed Mr Tokunbo Abiru as new MD, and Alhaji M K Ahmad as Board Chairman.
Mr Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, said that Skye Bank’s non-performing loan ratio had been above the regulatory limit for a while and it had met with Skye’s board to resolve the issue,
“The basic issue is capital adequacy and liquidity. From what we see adequacy ratio in the bank has been weakening and we don’t want it to get to a point where depositors will be at risk,” Emefiele said.
Skye Bank is designated as one of Nigeria’s systemically important banks due to the size of total sector deposits it holds after the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank. This means it has to hold more capital.
Emefiele said the central bank had conducted a stress test and decided to replace the chairman, chief executive and all non-executive directors after they failed to recapitalise the bank.
He said Skye had been a net borrower from its rediscount window for “sometime.”
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.