In a year when technology was key to success in banking, Tinkoff Bank’s groundbreaking ecosystem and relentless pace of innovation make the Russian lender the standout candidate for central and eastern Europe’s best digital bank award.
Founded as a branchless credit card issuer at the end of 2006, Tinkoff quickly transitioned into a full-service digital bank, providing retail financial and lifestyle services online and through a single super-app, launched in 2019. Its chairman is Stanislav Bliznyuk.
The bank was thus ideally positioned for the shift to digital banking during the Covid pandemic, as shown by the 25% expansion of its client base to 14.8 million by the end of December. This rapid growth, combined with a highly efficient digital-only business model, contributed to an outstanding return on equity of 40.6% last year.
AI and big data are central to Tinkoff’s strategy and in the awards period the bank deepened and expanded the use of AI in all aspects of its back-office and customer-facing operations.
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