In mid-2025, Optio Incentives, a Nordic fintech specialising in employee equity and incentive programmes, acquired Investec Wealth & Investment International’s share plan platform. Investec’s share plan services business was partially acquired in 2021 by JSE Investor Services (JIS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. JIS is a leading provider of share registry, custody and investor services, powering equity programmes for a large portion of the country’s listed and unlisted firms.

The 2021 transaction included licensing and support services for Investec’s share plan platform, which JIS subsequently white-labelled under its business. JIS is the country’s largest share plan administrator.

Founded in 2018 in Oslo by Christoffer Herheim and Mats Gerø, Optio supports more than 500 corporate clients across Scandinavia, the UK, Italy and SA, with programmes spanning 15-plus stock exchanges worldwide. Its platform serves at least 1 million employees participating in equity compensation programmes. The newly acquired share plan platform supports more than 60 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. In SA, the platform remains white-labelled by JIS.

‘The collaboration with Optio marks a milestone in our journey as a business as we continue to provide industry-leading services to our clients. By tapping into Optio’s reporting tools, we are reaffirming our commitment to innovation and excellence for our clients,’ says Carol Crozier, CEO of JIS. ‘We are now able to broaden our administration service offering within the UK and European region.’

Crozier says the partnership with Optio will enhance the services JIS currently offers its SA clients. ‘Optio will provide financial software expertise, and their financial reporting tools include IFRS2 reporting capabilities built into the offering as an optional value-added tool. Optio is a provider specialised in full-cycle administration of share plans, which means we can in future dedicate our focus to enhancing the overall user experience of share plan admin. That said, the most immediate value add will come from the financial reporting capabilities, which is critical for companies’ reporting requirements,’ she says.

‘The financial reporting tools ensure that all companies are able to report according to their jurisdictions standards; this will apply for listed and private schemes. We are also helping companies automate tax reporting by generating reports aligned with regulations across the different jurisdictions where clients operate share plans. Optio has strong expertise in supporting companies that want to offer share plans across borders, and this will be another benefit of working more closely together.’

Given the sensitive nature of financial and shareholder data, Crozier says measures have been taken to ensure data protection, especially across international borders. ‘We have significant data protection measures in place from a systems perspective, which ensure compliance with POPIA and GDPR [the EU general data protection regulation].’

Crozier says clients can expect new capabilities and features in the near future. ‘As mentioned, the immediate benefit will be the addition of financial reporting features. Beyond that, we are constantly working to innovate the share plan experience by making the user journey as smooth as possible – not just for plan administrators, but also for employees who are exercising and tracking their share value through our portal. Broad-based plans are becoming increasingly popular, meaning a more diverse range of employees are now accessing share plan benefits – not just management and those familiar with the financial lingo. That’s why we’re focused on making the experience easy to understand, engaging and motivating for everyone involved.’

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