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Microfinance Bank Opens Up On CBN’s Intervention Facility
A financial institution, the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, has said the intervention facilities, given by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that helped to facilitate growth and bolster the economy were loans, and not grants, stressing that such facilities must be repaid.
The Head, Corporate Communications of the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, Halimatu Omar, who made the clarification in a statement, noted that the loans were tailored for diverse purposes.
“The loans provided at various intervals were strictly intervention loans tailored for diverse purposes determined by the CBN, including the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF), popularly known as the COVID-19 loan due to its timing, as an initiative aimed at mitigating the pandemic’s impact, sustain businesses, and bolster the economy”, she noted.
Omar acknowledged recent challenges in loan recovery, saying the bank has launched a proactive recovery campaign via its social media platforms.
According to the image maker, despite the one-year extension of the moratorium, many beneficiaries have still defaulted on payment schedules.
“Despite offering an additional year to the initial one-year moratorium, numerous borrowers have unfortunately defaulted on repayment schedules.
”Hence, heightened efforts are being made to remind them, through text messages, of the repercussions of default”, she said.
Addressing concerns raised in a recent publication, the bank urged beneficiaries to identify and report individuals who purportedly acted as “agents” of the bank to the appropriate authorities.
She warned that the bank might rely on the Global Standing Instruction (GSI) to recover the loans.
”It is imperative for beneficiaries to understand that the Global Standing Instruction (GSI) represents one legal recourse for the bank in loan recovery, as authorised by the CBN. This policy empowers banks to debit accounts in other banks to settle defaults.
“Beneficiaries with genuine concerns about repayment are encouraged to approach the bank for evaluation and further discussion regarding their loan status. The bank’s website hosts valuable information to facilitate smooth repayment of the loans.
“The most prudent action for beneficiaries is to honor their repayment commitments, as evasion is not a viable option.
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.
