First National Bank’s eBucks rewards programme has given back R5bn to clients in the past 15 years, the banking group said on Tuesday.

The bank’s CEO, Jacques Celliers, said eBucks had proved successful because of the way it integrated technology and analytics to reward customers. “The bank is able to offer our customers additional value for their positive banking behaviour.”

eBucks CEO Jolande Duvenage said FNB has awarded 50bn eBucks since its inception in 2000. One eBuck is worth 10c.

Members have spent R4,2bn in eBucks, Duvenage revealed.

It took seven years to reach the first R1bn in allocations through eBucks.

Travel has proved the most popular purchase option for eBucks. “On average, we fill 30 Kulula planes every month and our members filled 30 000 tanks with fuel in January this year,” she said.

From offering airtime initially, the programme has added numerous partners over the years including Kulula.com, Emirates, Engen and Tracker. In its 15 years of operations, eBucks has been used to buy R560m in airtime, 560 000 movie tickets and 280 000 local flights.

In the past 10 months, eBucks have been used to buy a million iTunes music downloads.

FNB and sister financial services institution RMB Private Bank recently launched an eBucks rewards calculator on eBucks.com. The calculator allows members to “level up” by showing them which behaviours and product changes they need to make to receive more rewards.