Business
Financial Inclusion: MFB Attracts N1.8bn Savings In Three Months
LAPO Microfinance Bank (LMB) Limited has revealed that over N1.8 billion was saved in three months by customers via the LAPO Xpress Save & Win Promotion, “Promo Season 2”.
Also, to boost savings culture, deepen financial inclusion, the bank rewarded the winner of the promo with N1 million star prize.
The bank said the LAPO Xpress Savings Promo Season 2, themed “Double Double”, reflects the bank’s proactive response to the current socioeconomic realities and its genuine commitment to empowering customers.
The winner, Halisu Kabiru, who is a customer from the bank’s Zaria 1 branch in Kaduna State, emerged after a raffle draw for the N1 million grand prize as well as other consolation prize winners of N40,000 each respectively.
Speaking at the raffle draw held at LAPO House in Lagos, Head, Corporate Planning Department LAPO MfB, Mrs. Dorcas Thorpe, said, “the bank which started the season 1 of the initiative with 50 thousand customers a few months ago, has increased its customers base to eight million.
“To qualify and participate in the winning category, customers must save at least N30, 000 within three months, 10, 000 monthly, saying 100 people were picked for the consolation prices while one was picked for the star prize”.
Earlier, Director, Marketing & Communications, Mr. Oluremi Akande, said the key objective of the Xpress savings account was to further deepen financial inclusion, achieve poverty alleviation, and support customers’ to build sustainable wealth.
He added that the management of the bank decided to increase the prizes upwards from N500, 000 as a star prize to N1 million while the consolation prize moves from N20,000 to N40,000 for 100 lucky winners, respectively.
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.
