A Bank That’s No Longer Just a Bank: Human-Centered Design Becomes the New Normal
In Russia, banks are no longer focused solely on managing money. Increasingly, they are addressing customers’ health, daily routines, and overall quality of life. A clear example is Sber’s ecosystem. This month, its GigaChat passed certification as a financial analyst, while the company’s smart ring gained new capabilities to help users improve sleep quality.
The Future Is Already Here
Sber positions itself as a “platform for life” – a place where users can do everything from ordering groceries and planning travel to receiving AI-driven investment advice. It represents a ready-made model of the near-future digital economy, where finance, technology, and everyday services merge into a single AI-managed ecosystem. And this future is already here: 44 million people interact with it daily by opening the Sberbank Online app.
The bank showcased the full scope of its services while summing up the year at the large-scale “Made by Sber” conference, which combined an Investor Day with a presentation on the evolution of its digital services.
An Ecosystem Built for Everyday Life
At the event, Sber presented an updated architecture of its digital environment. A new “For Life” section appeared in the Sberbank Online app, covering areas that matter most to everyday living. Sections such as “Home,” “Auto,” and “Loved Ones Nearby” allow users to solve non-financial tasks – ordering food, booking doctor appointments, planning trips, or choosing a movie for the evening.
There are also dedicated services for children. These tools do more than let kids spend money transferred by parents; they teach basic financial literacy through a curated set of educational materials presented in an accessible format.
Putting People at the Center
This marks a shift from a transactional model to a service-oriented one. The bank is no longer just a place to store money; it acts as an assistant. Financial services remain essential, of course, but the role has changed. The bank does not simply issue or receive funds – it helps users manage finances wisely and build long-term well-being strategies. An AI-powered tax assistant handles deductions, an investment advisor helps allocate income and start investing, and neural networks remind users about bill payments and insurance renewals.
This progress is the result of systematic action. In 2023, Sber launched GigaChat, its first step toward an AI-first interface. In 2024, the company began implementing a strategy built around human-centered design. Over the past two years, it has actively expanded non-banking services. Today, next-generation ATMs not only dispense cash but also measure pulse, blood pressure, and stress levels, effectively becoming health monitoring points. Meanwhile, Sber’s smart ring reminds users when it is time to sleep and can share recent health data with a doctor, trainer, or sleep specialist.
A Driver of Broader Digital Transformation
Competition accelerates innovation. For the IT sector, this creates strong demand for domestic technologies – machine learning, big data processing systems, biometric solutions, and cloud platforms. GigaChat is already among Russia’s most advanced neural networks, and its integration into financial and lifestyle services raises customer interaction efficiency to a new level.
As a systemically important player in the country’s financial sector, Sber sets national trends. When an ecosystem with tens of millions of users deploys AI advisors or health-focused services, it accelerates the digitalization of everyday life for millions of people. It also triggers the development of similar solutions across other financial and non-financial institutions, pushing the digital economy forward. This economy, built on technology, places human needs at its core. In this sense, the “Made by Sber” conference was effectively a declaration of this new reality.
