FNB overhauls eBucks for businesses

First National Bank is introducing sweeping changes to its eBucks Rewards programme for business from 1 September, it said on Thursday.

Businesses will now be required to meet a new set of criteria based on the specific business accounts they hold.

These include having a specified minimum regular deposit in the account, performing at least one financial or non-financial transaction, ensuring that all accounts are in good standing and updating their details through online banking, the app or the eBucks website.

The overhauled programme will also require customers to tell the bank about their businesses — for example what type of business they have and how many employees it has. “We see insights like these as critical to ensure our value propositions and engagements with customers are more relevant, useful and effective,” FNB said in a statement.

It said it has simplified the way FNB Business and RMB Private Bank Business customers qualify, get rewarded and move up tiers. Also, the more solutions and products that businesses use, the higher they will move up reward levels.

“We conducted extensive research prior to making changes to our programme, including in-depth customer surveys with our base,” said Jesse Weinberg, head of the SME customer segment at FNB Business. “The outcome of this translated into the changes we are now launching, which we feel cater for diverse customer needs as well as encouraging customers to evolve their banking behaviour toward more secure, digital approaches.”

Businesses can now move up reward levels by taking up relevant products with FNB — FNB Connect, receipts, payments, business solutions, specialised products, short-term lending, fixed-term lending, and short- and long-term savings.

Reward tiers

Many customers already use two or more products and, as a result, will move up a reward level as a result, Weinberg said. “A gold account holder (typically with an annual turnover between R0 and R5-million a year) can move up to a higher reward tier each time they take up a product in a different category.”

Businesses now also have the potential to earn up to 40% off on vouchers and other products from the eBucks Shop, he said.

Businesses with existing eBucks balances earned from the old programme will still be able to spend them as they have been with any of our in-store or online spend partners, as well as through various FNB channels such as buying prepaid airtime on the FNB app or shopping on eBucks.com, he added.  — © 2019 NewsCentral Media