How Sberbank has transformed itself from ‘babushka bank’ to digital banking giant

In this op-ed Anna Kuzmina, a figure of the Russian payment industry, highlights the importance of Sberbank in Russians’ everyday life, and the implications of this bank’s digital transformation. Mrs Kuzmina is Deputy Chief Commercial Officer at Yandex.Money, a joint venture of Sberbank and Yandex. 

In just a few years Sberbank, Russia’s state-controlled banking giant, has transformed itself from the ‘babushka’ bank to a quite innovative one with many things digital: almost digital bank, in most services, almost everywhere throughout the country.

This bank invokes a variety of emotions in the hearts of Russian people. But one thing is certain — Sberbank Online has taken a significant place in modern Russia. Sberbank Online is now the largest alternative (to bank cards) payment system in terms of the monthly active users — whopping 40 million people (November 2018).