- · Partnership to provide EasyEquities access to over 70 million GCash customers
- · Initial fantasy game will educate and attract new Filipino stock traders
- · Could significantly increase volumes on EasyEquities’ platform and boost growth
South African digital investment platform EasyEquities has partnered with Philippine e-wallet provider GCash to offer managed US stock portfolios to GCash’s over 70 million customers. The partnership aims to make stock trading more accessible to Filipinos and turbocharge volumes on EasyEquities’ platform.
EasyEquities will launch a fantasy investment game on GCash in June 2023 to educate and familiarize customers with US stock trading before offering real trading. This strategy proved successful when EasyEquities launched in South Africa. The game will run for at least six weeks, allowing players to invest fantasy money in real US stocks for chances to win prizes.
EasyEquities expects this partnership to significantly boost transaction volumes on its platform given GCash’s large customer base. EasyEquities’ volumes have surged over the past year, facilitating over R12 billion in client investments in 2022. The GCash partnership could propel volumes to new heights over the coming years.
The partnership must still gain final approval from the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulator overseeing the country’s securities and investments industry. EasyEquities and GCash have held talks with the SEC to ensure compliance and accelerate the launch of real trading post-fantasy game. The SEC sees the game as a way to educate first-time investors before they start actual trading.
Competitors like eToro and Robinhood have also expanded into Asia and offer commission-free stock trading. But EasyEquities’ partnership with GCash’s dominant e-wallet platform gives it a competitive edge with access to millions of customers. The integration with GCash will also allow EasyEquities to tap into the e-wallet’s technology infrastructure and payment systems.
According to Aaron Chiraerae, a Business Analyst, this partnership is a glimpse of the future for trading and payments in emerging markets. With rising smartphone use, e-wallets and digital investment platforms can join forces to make stock trading more accessible and affordable in historically under-served regions like Africa and Asia. By leveraging e-wallets’ large client bases and payments capabilities, platforms can accelerate customer acquisition and improve the user experience.
The EasyEquities-GCash partnership shows the power of fintech collaboration to drive financial inclusion. By combining investment access with e-payments, they can open up stock trading to millions of Filipinos for the first time and reshape how people engage with and benefit from capital markets. Greater retail participation could also boost market liquidity and catalyze economic growth over the long run.
This partnership between EasyEquities and GCash has several implications for the broader fintech industry in emerging markets:
The partnership demonstrates the power of collaboration between fintech companies. By partnering, EasyEquities and GCash can leverage each other's strengths to provide a more compelling offering than either could alone. This type of fintech collaboration is likely to become more common, especially in emerging markets.
It also shows how fintechs can drive greater financial inclusion. By integrating digital investment services with a popular e-wallet platform, EasyEquities and GCash are making stock trading more accessible to millions of Filipinos who otherwise may not have the means or knowledge to participate. This model could be applied to other underserved customer segments and markets.
The partnership highlights how fintechs can tap into existing infrastructure and customer bases. Rather than building from scratch, fintechs can accelerate growth by partnering with established platforms that already have scale, technology, and compliance in place. This is an efficient way for fintechs to overcome barriers to entry in emerging markets.
This partnership signals opportunity for growth in online investing and trading. The partnership points to untapped demand for low-cost digital investment services in emerging markets, especially when bundled with payments, banking, and other fintech solutions. Emerging market fintechs focused on wealth and asset management may find compelling avenues for growth.
There is also a possibility that the partnership will drive greater innovation in emerging markets. By necessity, fintechs in developing regions have to build products and services for the unique challenges and constraints in those markets. This type of innovation from the ground up can benefit developed markets fintechs as well. The EasyEquities and GCash partnership, for example, may yield insights for customer engagement and education strategies applicable in other regions.
So in summary, this partnership is emblematic of the tremendous opportunity for fintech growth and collaboration in emerging markets. By leveraging each other's strengths, fintech companies can overcome barriers to entry, reach more underserved customers, build products specially tailored for those markets, and drive greater financial inclusion and participation. The model established by EasyEquities and GCash is one that other emerging market fintechs would do well to explore.
