The second quarter of 2026 was marked by a sustained programme of legal, regulatory and judicial activity across Nigeria’s commercial landscape, as the principal economic regulators advanced reforms directed at deepening market efficiency, reinforcing investor confidence and aligning domestic practice with prevailing international standards. Developments spanning the capital markets, banking, competition, data protection, financial-crime and fiscal spheres collectively signaled a decisive shift towards more anticipatory, technology-enabled supervision and a markedly lower tolerance for non-compliance.

Three themes dominated the quarter. First, the modernisation of the financial-market infrastructure, exemplified by the migration to a T+1 settlement cycle and the introduction of the Nigerian Overnight Financing Rate as a transaction-based money-market benchmark. Secondly, the consolidation of regulatory and judicial authority over consumer and competition matters, including a series of landmark decisions affirming the jurisdiction of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and clarifying foundational questions of company law. Thirdly, the operationalisation of Nigeria’s most ambitious fiscal reform in decades through the commencement of the Tax Acts 2025 and the publication of accompanying transition guidance.

This edition of the Business Intelligence & Commercial Awareness (BICA) Report analyses the most consequential developments of the quarter and considers their practical implications for corporates, investors, financial institutions and their advisers operating within, or transacting into, Nigeria.