Business
Chamber To Boost Nigeria’s Trade With Brazil
The President of the Nigeria-Brazil Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Emmanuel Ibru has announced that the chamber was exploring ways to increase trade between Nigerian and Brazilian businessmen.
Ibru, who made the announcement in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, said the two countries had a lot to gain through increased trade in the non-oil sector.
“Nigeria and Brazil have had very strong trade relations but most of our trade transactions have been trade surplus from the Nigeria point of view.
“Most of Nigeria’s exports to Brazil have basically been oil related.
We are therefore ready to increase Nigeria’s trade with Brazil through our non-oil products.
“We are currently looking at the possibility of increasing trade and business relations between our two countries and to promote the exchange of technical know-how between us.’’
Ibru said there was currently a renewed interest from the governments of Nigeria and Brazil, companies and the chamber to increase trade between the two countries.
The president said it was imperative for the long- standing trade to be increased for the two countries’ mutual benefits.
Ibru, who expressed satisfaction with the Nigerian government’s current interest in the development of its agriculture sector, said that Nigeria and Brazil had similar weather conditions suitable for agriculture.
“We are really working at improving and creating a mutually beneficial relationship between our people and companies so as to increase our trade and business relations.
“We are also looking for joint venture partners from Brazil, who would come over to Nigeria and help reproduce Brazil’s system of agriculture in Nigeria,’’ he said.
Ibru said the chamber would continue to organise trade missions for Nigerian companies and farmers to Brazil to explore agribusiness, trade and investment opportunities.
He said the chamber would also create more opportunities for Brazilian companies and investors to come and invest in Nigeria.
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.
