The #Easy life: EasyEquities is #1 around the world

It’s been a little over two years since EasyEquities stormed onto the South African equity investment scene – and there’s no stopping the country’s cheapest, easiest online investment platform in its rise to #1!

Nowadays there’s not a week that goes by without something amazing happening at EasyEquities. (Amazing in bold and italics symbolises the global scale on which the amazingness is happenning.)

Here’s a recap of some of the EasyEquities’ recent achievements:

Top 100 leading fintech companies IN THE WORLD!!

KPMG and H2 Ventures recently carried out a global survey to find the world’s top 100 fintech innovators for 2016 – and EasyEquities is one of them!

The Fintech 100 report is compiled by KPMG and fintech investment firm H2 Ventures. It identifies the leading 50 ‘established’ fintech companies in the world, and the most intriguing 50 ‘emerging stars’. EasyEquities is one of these top 50 emerging stars – exciting new fintechs with bold, disruptive and potentially game-changing ideas.

Victors at the 2016 Fintech Africa Awards – Rick Martin of Satrix, Gary van Dyk of Purple Group, Helena Conradie of Satrix, and Charles Savage of Purple Group

Check out the write-up on the KPMG website: H2 Ventures KPMG Fintech 100 – Presenting the world’s leading Fintech innovators for 2016 or download the full report.

There was also a lekker article in BusinessTech: These three South African fintech companies rank among the best in the world

“Our spot among the top 100 fintech companies in the world is a fantastic endorsement for the EasyEquities platform,” says Charles Savage, CEO of EasyEquities holding company Purple Group. “It confirms that what we’re doing isn’t only great for South Africans, but that there’s a call to democratise equity investing across the globe!”

BankTech Asia Fin5ive Challenge

EasyEquities is one of five fintech companies IN THE WORLD who will be presenting to delegates from more than 100 banks in the Asia Pacific region at the upcoming Bank Tech Asia convention in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Easy team won the chance to speak in the BankTech Asia Fin5ive Challenge competition in which it ranked among the top five fintech solutions out of all the entries.

“This is a massive opportunity for us to connect with the Asian market and look for partnerships with financial services companies in the region,” says Purple Group VP Partnerships Almero Oosthuizen. “Our visit to KL has huge implications, not only for EasyEquities but also for South Africa’s status as an exporter of tech services.”

Almero and Charles will be presenting in the plenary session on 8 November.

Bank Tech Asia is a forum for regional banks to get together “to harness some of the most advanced technologies from the world’s largest markets” … another global score for EasyEquities!

Africa Fintech Awards

Closer to home – but still on an international scale – EasyEquities was recently named #1 Invest-tech firm and #1 Fintech company in Africa in the 2016 Africa Fintech Awards. The awards were won in collaboration with SatrixNow, an online investment platform that’s delivered in partnership with EasyEquities.

“Partnerships are a key part of our business, and we are constantly exploring new ways to work with like-minded companies,” says Charles. “Being named the number one invest-tech and fintech company in Africa is definitely a feather in our caps. It shows that we are relevant on the continent we call home, and that we have a winning partnership with SatrixNow.”

SA’s Top Stockbrokers

EasyEquities was named SA’s Top Online Stockbroker and Top TFSA Provider by Financial Mail Investors Monthly at SA’s Top Stockbroker Awards for 2016.

The survey of SA’s stockbrokers is in its seventh year and has established itself as the leading assessment of the stockbroking industry. It is conducted by Intellidex, a specialist financial research house, and canvases both stockbrokers and clients.

“The Top Stockbroker awards are very special to us as they reflect what our clients think of our product,” says Almero. “We have done well in these awards every year since we launched EasyEquities in 2014, which tells us that our investors love what we’re doing.

“It’s also awesome to have been named SA’s number one tax-free savings account (TFSA) provider for two years running, particularly considering last year was the first time the award was made. So we’ve effectively been number one since the start!”

Read the report in detail in the FM Investors Monthly feature entitled The top broker of the year.

Accenture Innovation Index

EasyEquities took the title Top Innovative Concept at the Accenture Innovation Index Top Achievers conference. EE won the award for its innovative investment baskets, which came online in June 2016.

“Share baskets allow EasyEquities investors to buy a selection of shares, with assigned weightings, chosen by an asset manager, a brand or a personality,” explains Charles. “Initially we launched two baskets – one with 45 stocks and one with 20 – chosen by two of our asset managers. We subsequently launched a pair of ‘Pink Drive’ baskets with slightly higher basket fees, which we donate directly to Pink Drive.”

There’s even a Jan Braai basket!

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) baskets are the newest additions to the EasyEquities basket line-up. These baskets allow investors to pick an ETF (which is a basically a bundle of shares) based on his or her individual risk profile.

“The great thing about ETF baskets is that you can buy them as part of your tax-free savings allowance,” says Charles.

So it’s an innovation within an innovation, delivered via an innovative platform. No wonder EasyEquities is winning so many awards!

(More baskets are on the horizon, by the way. Look out for exciting partnerships with Cartesian Capital and Gareth Cliff, among others.)

The #Easy blueprint for world domination

At the heart of EasyEquities’ success is a set of simple philosophies:

1. Keep on investing in people and platforms

EasyEquities’ primary focus is on helping people to grow their wealth. This philosophy lies at the heart of everything they do. When it comes to developing the platform, every tweak and update is implemented with the investor in mind.

“We will always aim to find the simplest solution,” says Charles. “If we find things getting a bit complicated, we chuck everything out and start again.”

2. Democratise the stock exchange

Everyone has the right to own shares on the JSE – and that’s how it should be.

“Democracy guarantees everyone euqal rights, which is why we decided to democratise the stock exchange so that all South Africans can participate,” explains Charles. “You can buy shares for as little as R5, which makes investing accessible to the vast majority of us.

3. Have fun

This is an imperative at Purple Group.

“If you’re not having fun, then you’re doing something wrong,” says Charles. “If you have a passion for your work – which we do!! – then you will have fun while you’re doing it. It’s that simple. At Purple Group we don’t take ourselves very seriously, although we take what we do very seriously indeed.”

Keep an eye out for Purple Group’s results for the year ended 31 August 2016, which will be released on 31 October. There’s also a new website coming, as well as a few other surprises that you won’t want to miss out on!

Purple Group is listed on the JSE, which means you can actually buy shares in EasyEquities itself. It’s really very, very #easy!