Not just paying lip service to financial empowerment
Well-known South African online investment platform, EasyEquities, has over 3 million registered clients and allows people to grow and protect their wealth.
With the EasyEquities community regularly depositing more than R2 billion each month, the Group is even more focused on supporting smart financial behaviours. Says CEO and EasyEquities founder Charles Savage : “Consistency, education, participation, and transparency is part of our DNA”.
Since 2018, EasyEquities has run a loyalty programme called Thrive. Every month, clients complete activities such as depositing more than they withdraw, referring a friend or finishing a short course in EasyAcademy.
Each activity earns levels, up to a maximum of 10, and the level a client reaches sets the rewards they get.
On 1 October 2026, EasyEquities introduced Thrive Rewards, which changes how those rewards are paid and widens the range of products that earn them. October was the first full month with the changes in effect, and the early numbers show engagement rising.
The number of Thrivalists – clients at Level 3 or higher – grew by 9% from September to October. The total number of activities completed rose by 12%, from 365,000 to 408,000.
From discounts to rebates
Until October, Thrive rewarded clients mainly with brokerage discounts on Thrive Stocks, a curated list of shares marked with a rocket icon on the platform.
Under Thrive Rewards, clients earn a rebate instead, and there are many more ways to earn it.
“We moved from a discount to a rebate because, psychologically, you feel the benefit of a rebate, whereas a discount at the point of transaction is easy to miss,” says Tristan Finnemore, Growth Officer at EasyEquities.
“We also added many more ways to earn, rather than only brokerage on Thrive Stocks.”
How it works
Every client on the EasyEquities, EasyCrypto and EasyProperties platforms is a member automatically. Seven standard activities repeat every month, alongside one campaign challenge that changes.
Levels are built from that month’s activity only, so each month starts afresh, and rebates are credited within the first 10 business days of the following month.
Finnemore says Thrive is about encouraging participation and better engagement with personal finances.
“The activities are designed to help clients grow themselves through education, grow their portfolios through deposits, grow their community through referrals and give back through Donate for Good,” says Finnemore.
What clients earn
A level doesn’t translate into a fixed amount. Instead, it sets a rebate rate on the products a client already uses, so what each client earns depends on what they use.
The brokerage rebate on Thrive Stocks, EasyETFs and EasyCrypto rises from 10% at Level 1 to 100% at Level 10, when the whole brokerage fee comes back.
The rewards now run across the Easy Group too. Clients can earn back up to 20% of EasyFX conversion fees, up to 3% of the interest on an EasyCredit loan, up to 3% of their EasyProtect premiums, up to 1% of what they invest in an EasyProperties IPO, and an additional loyalty boost of up to 1% on the value of a portfolio or retirement transfer in.
Reaching Level 3, Thrivalist status, switches on the rebates on all of these products, and the rebates apply side by side for clients who use several of them.
Two rewards don’t depend on level at all. Clients can earn up to R5,000 when a home loan is registered through EasyMortgages. A successful referral earns the referrer EM500 (worth R50) in EasyMoney, and the friend they refer gets R50 in cash.
Paid in EasyMoney
Rebates are paid in EasyMoney, a loyalty currency worth an indicative R1 for every 10 EM, into a dedicated Thrive Rewards account.
Clients can convert it to rand through EasyFX at no cost, then invest it or use it to offset brokerage fees. Each monthly allocation carries a three-year withdrawal lock, which means it can be used on the platform straight away but not withdrawn until the lock lifts.
Streaks and badges
The Thrive page also recognises clients who keep showing up.
“Four streaks track consistency, such as consecutive days with a login and consecutive months at Thrivalist level,” explains Finnemore. “A trophy case holds 30 badges across logins, trades, deposits, EasyFX transfers and friends joined, each with a six-step ladder.
“None of this affects levels or rebates, but it does feed into how EasyEquities will judge the programme.”
Finnemore says the business will track growth in product participation, while on the client side it will look at engagement with Thrive itself: the challenges, streaks and badges.
