EasyEquities versus FNB, Standard Bank, and Absa

An analysis by Daily Investor revealed that EasyEquities has lower trading fees than online trading platforms offered by FNB, Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank, and Investec.

EasyEquities was created in 2014 and is a product of First World Trader, which forms part of Purple Group, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

It makes it easy to invest in equities and gives millions of South Africans access to the financial markets. Users can buy local and international stocks.

EasyEquities’ biggest selling point is its patented fractional share rights (FSR) model, which allows investors to buy and sell small portions of equities traded on stock exchanges. 

FSR means everyone can invest cheaply and easily and allows a R100 investor to create the same portfolio as an R1 million investor.

It is backed by shares bought and held in a bankruptcy remote vehicle that is not on EasyEquities’ balance sheet. FSRs, therefore, ensure safety and security for investor assets.

EasyEquities founder and Purple Group CEO Charles Savage said they were the first platform globally to offer FSRs digitally.

Savage said their fractional share rights innovation had haled them to become ten times larger than the second biggest stockbroker in South Africa.

“We have more than tripled the size of the retail investors base in South Africa. Without FSRs, this could never have happened,” he said.

Savage said all their partners – Sanlam, Satrix, Capitec, Discovery Bank, Telkom, and Bidvest – approved the product structure, setup, and regulatory environment.

EasyEquities versus other online platforms

Many platforms allow South African investors to buy and sell local and international shares.

A few prominent online share trading platforms include FNB, Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank Private Wealth, and Investec Wealth and Investment.

Daily Investor analysed the fee structures associated with these platforms, which revealed that EasyEquities’ brokerage fee is lower than its competitors.

It also has no account fee, which other platforms typically charge an account fee of between R70 and R110 per month.

However, it is more expensive when you want to transfer your brokerage account to another platform.

EasyEquities charges R150 per share for the transfers, much higher than Standard Bank’s R62.23 per share and Nedbank’s R90 per share.

The securities transfer tax (STT) of 0.25% and the investor protection levy (IPL) of 0.0002% are standard for all the platforms.

There is also a 0.005787% charge for the electronic settlement of share transactions through STRATE, the electronic settlement authority.

The table below provides an overview of how EasyEquities’ fees compare with competing platforms from the big banks.