The FirstRand Group's ecommerce venture, eBucks.com, today reaffirmed its success as the Internet Banking portal for First National Bank, Origin, WesBank and Ansbacher as well as establishing itself as South Africa's leading Rewards Programme.

The Group launched eBucks.com in October 2000, shortly after the launch of Old Mutual's Fundsnet, Icanonline, Standard Bank's Bluebean and before Saambou's Internet bank, 20Twenty. At the time of launch the Group announced it had set aside R300 million for the launch and to support the fledgling business for a period of three years. Paul Harris, CEO of FirsRand Bank Holdings has said that, "eBucks in fact used less than R100m at peak funding. We are very proud to say that eBucks.com is now profitable on a month-to-month basis and is outperforming all initial expectations".

Sifiso Dabengwa, MD of MTN South Africa, which is a 30% shareholder in the eBucks rewards programme says that, "MTN is proud to be associated with such a high calibre company and we believe that our customers and ultimately our business profits substantially on many different levels through this partnership."

According to Sandy Yates, CEO of eBucks.com the success of the initiative can be attributed to, "the commitment and support of FirstRand Group management and eBucks.com's partners as well as the successful implementation of the initial business model despite difficult industry conditions."

In addition to the growing strength of its bottom line, proof of eBucks.com's growing success is that there are now over 129 000 active internet bankers conducting over R4.2bn worth of transactions via the website every month, and over 500 000 rewards programme customers who, in utilising the products of FirstRand and MTN have built up over R100m worth of eBucks. The average spend in the eBucks Shop has also increased on a monthly basis, with over R4m worth of eBucks spent during December and total sales for 2002 being double that of 2001.

One of the intended roles of eBucks.com was to act as a vehicle for cross-sell within FirstRand and its partners. With the growth and high level of awareness that eBucks.com has achieved, this objective is proving a resounding success with an increasing number of products and services being introduced into the different customers bases.

Paul Harris says that, "FirstRand is looking forward to an exciting year in which eBucks.com will continue to be a true asset by playing an integral role in the collaborative objectives of the Group."

About eBucks:

eBucks, the rewards programme offered by First National Bank (FNB) and RMB Private Bank, is acknowledged as one of South Africa's leading rewards programmes with highly active members spending in excess of 80% of the eBucks earned in any given month.