Despite prevailing economic conditions, eBucks - FNB's hugely popular rewards programme - reached a major milestone, with the announcement that members have spent over R1billion worth of eBucks since the programme's inception nine years ago.

"It is evident, based on this monumental achievement, that our members clearly see us as a powerful rewards currency, which offers relevant and tangible value," said Lezanne Human, CEO of eBucks.

To put this colossal value into perspective, R1billion worth of eBucks could be equated to:

• Approximately 830 000 000 minutes of airtime - that's 13 833 333 hours, or 576 388 days or 1 578 years of non-stop talking!¹
• Almost 286 million Lotto tickets . . . gotta be a couple winning tickets in that
• Buying over 91145 flat screen TV's²
• Donating over 13 million trees and offsetting 6,5 million tones of Carbon Dioxide³
• Get your groove on with over 6391 818 CDs⁴!!
• Spoiling your loved one with a basket bouquet of 12 red roses a day at eB3 390each for the next 8 076 years!

The appeal of rewards programmes has increased tremendously over the last twelve recessionary months with many people using their rewards currency to help them make ends meet. However, not all rewards programmes are equal in the value they offer.

"There are unfortunately a few badly structured programmes that do not have tangible consumer benefit at heart, whilst others are optimally designed to mutually benefit members and partners alike. It's just a matter of choosing the right one," says Human.

eBucks recently conducted an independently verified, financial services rewards comparison, which focused on transparency, structure, discount partners, reward partners, costs and reward redemption. eBucks emerged as the rewards programme with the lowest member Rand spend required in order to receive R100 worth of rewards currency - R590. The next best programme was ABSA Rewards at R1 750, and the most spend required was Nedbank's Greenbacks at R16 500.

The R1billion spent announcement is indicative of the mutually beneficial relationship that exists between First National Bank (FNB) and its clients. Through eBucks, South Africa's leading rewards programme, FNB continues to acknowledge and reward its members for their loyalty. This while customers continue to respond by engaging with the programme, through increased activity on their accounts.

To view the results of the rewards comparison survey, please visit: www.eBucks.com

• Reference¹:
• At an average cost of R1.20 per minute
• Reference²:
• LG 42" LCD HD-Ready TV at R10 971.45 each
• Reference³:
• Trees donated at R75 each through Food and Trees for Africa.
• Various academic studies indicated that an average indigenous tree planted in an average urban environment in South Africa absorbs carbon dioxide exponentially as it grows. Over a period of about 15 years, on average, 500kg of carbon dioxide is stored per tree¹. Based on this 13millions trees will result in an estimated absorption of 6,500,000 tonnes in CO² emissions!!
• Reference⁴:
• A variety of CDs at R156.45 each

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.