Standard Bank gears up for EasyEquities battle

Standard Bank has announced plans to consolidate its online trading platforms under its global money app, Shyft, after steadily building out the app’s capabilities. 

The announcement follows an assessment of client feedback and prevailing industry trends, the bank said. 

It had also conducted a comprehensive review of the existing online retail trading platforms, including the bank’s WebTrader, Auto Share Invest (ASI), and Online Share Trading (OST).

After the review, Shyft was selected as the most suitable platform for servicing global and local investing and trading needs across various currencies and assets. 

The migration over to shift from the existing trading platforms will take effect over the course of 2025 and 2026.

“We are making direct contact with clients on the migration,” Henry Dhliwayo, Head of the Global Markets Retail Business at Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking, said.  

“To minimise disruption and ensure stability, the move of clients and assets will be carried out in multiple tranches, with each phase carefully planned and communicated.”

“These platforms will remain available for some time. However, eventually, they will only be accessible via Shyft.” 

The phased migration has begun with OST, where clients currently using the platform to invest in Shares and Exchange-Traded Funds have been contacted directly with information about the move to Shyft. 

Clients who currently hold or invest in other financial instruments – such as Tax-Free Investment Accounts, derivatives, or structured products – will be included in subsequent phases of the rollout. 

Similarly, clients whose accounts are managed by third parties or intermediaries will also be migrated at a later stage.

Earlier this year, Shyft added the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s listed companies to its investment and trading platform. 

This made the platform a fully-fledged trading platform that enables South Africans to invest in US equities, on the European stock market, and in UK-listed companies.

First launched in 2016 as a platform purely for buying and selling forex, Shyft has gradually expanded its capabilities in the past eight years. 

This was initially aimed at helping South Africans purchase forex digitally and spend their money globally, either through a physical card or virtually. 

The platform is now available to all Standard Bank and non-Standard Bank clients who reside in South Africa or Botswana and offers physical and digital cards.

EasyEquities battle

EasyEquities has long had relatively free rein in the South African retail investing market, rapidly growing its client base and accumulating over R60 billion in assets on its platform. 

However, this appears to have ended with two of South Africa’s largest banks, Investec and Standard Bank, launching direct competitors. 

Traditional banks have substantial edges over EasyEquities due to their significant distribution channels and ability to use the excess cash on the platform for traditional banking activities.

Their scale should also enable them to offer lower trading fees, as they already have significant share-trading operations.

However, taking on EasyEquities will not be easy. The platform has grown rapidly over the past few years, nearing one million clients and R60 billion in assets.

It also has an edge over Standard Bank and Investec’s offerings in that it enables users to invest in whole shares and fractional security rights (FSR). 

In comparison, Investec’s Clarity only allows its users to access financial assets through contract-for-difference (CFD) instruments. 

Purple Group CEO Charles Savage has sharply criticised Clarity in the media, saying that its offering does not offer share ownership. 

Shyft only allows users to buy whole shares. However, it was said that fractional shares would be available to investors soon.

Traditional banks have advantages of their own, with their tremendous scale and existing distribution channels being leveraged to enhance their offerings. 

This scale should enable them to offer lower trading fees and, in the case of Shyft, extremely low foreign exchange rates. 

These banks can also use the excess cash on the platform for traditional banking activities, reducing their reliance on trading income and enabling them to charge lower fees. 

They can also use the data collected from clients using the platform to target them with private banking offerings based on the funds users invest.

In the case of Shyft, Standard Bank also enables clients to spend money on the platform through a digital or physical card.