Business
‘Why Investors Are Interested In Bonds’
Some capital market operators have said investors sustained interest in government bonds was due to near stagnation in the prices of listed equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Our correspondent reports that 166.3 per cent rise in the turnover of government bonds last week confirmed investors’ new investment preference.
An analysis of investment pattern in the week under review indicated that investors bought 124.96 million units of the government bonds.
This was against the 75.16 million units sold at the Over the Counter (OTC) market.
The Vice-Chairman, Association of Stock Broking Houses of Nigerian, Mr Emeka Madubuike, tattributed the development to the government shoring of the new bonds coupon rate to match prevailing interest rates.
Madubuike said that the interest rates hike coupled with the uncertainty in the equity market made the fixed income market a natural attraction.
He said that the rebound of the capital market and investors’ confidence would only be visible, if the fiscal policy complemented the monetary policies.
Mr David Adonri, a dealer with Lambeth Trust and Investment Ltd., said that huge losses suffered by investors in the listed stocks compelled them to seek comfort and safety in fixed income securities.
Adonri said that the recent increase in Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) drove the marginal rates on Treasury bill to over 16 per cent and increased yield on bond.
The dealer said that the provoked high returns in fixed income challenged institutional investors to maximise the new monetary policy and engage in financial assets swapping.
He said that the nation’s financial market would experience equilibrium when earnings yield in equities competed favourable with average yield on bonds.
Adonri also projected that the prices of listed equities would continue to fall till there was near convergence in yields of both markets.
Mr Solomon Kugbe, another dealer with Marriot Securities and Investment, said that the new investment preference by investors was a function of their recent experiences in the Nigerian capital market.
Kugbe said that the safety net of the Federal Government bond stemmed from the inherent cover in the nation’s sovereignty.
He said that large scale transaction of the government bonds on the stock exchange market would re-create market based liquidity, confidence and stimulate investment synergy between the debt and the equity market.
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.
