FX.co ★ Best online banks of 2018

This year, the company changed the method of places distribution, making two ratings instead of just one: the first rating (digital banking) describes the effectiveness of online banking, reflects the availability of debit card services and the ability to receive information about the product online; the second one (digital office) evaluates online services, which can usually be received by customers by contacting the bank's office or call center. Previously, both these ratings were counted together.

You will find the best Internet banks in our photo gallery.

In each position, the leaders in the ratings of digital banking and digital office are specified, respectively.

1. Binbank; Tinkoff Bank

During the research, classical debit cards were issued in each of the 31 participating banks (10 banks were selected from the Internet Banking Rank 2017 rating, as well as banks with the largest number of Internet banking users). Then, standard operations were analyzed: payments for services, transfers, creating templates, changing card settings, ordering and closing products, and obtaining reference information.

In the second part of the research, real clients of Russian banks aged 25 to 50 years took part, each of them worked with three Internet banks that they had not used before. Every online bank was tested by five users.

2. Tinkoff Bank; Levoberezhniy Bank

Binbank and Tinkoff were recognized as the most effective Internet banks in the category of daily banking. It is worth noting that they have maintained their positions since last year.

At the same time, Tinkoff, one might say, is the leader among the others, as he took the first places in both ratings.

The bank stressed that for them, "mobile" development is in the priority, since the mobile bank is the main channel of communication with the user, and 80% of the online banking audience use a mobile application to fulfil their tasks.

3. Levoberezhniy Bank; Trust

Experts note that Russian banks successfully manage to fulfill customer requests online. At the same time, banks can not create full-fledged digital offices yet.

The second rating of the agency (digital office) reflects how the customer service of the bank is translated into digital channels, which allows the client to use services of the bank office and call center more rarely.

4. Pochta Bank; Pochta Bank

Separate research on digital office was conducted for the first time. It turned out that such a business model is not relevant for all banks. So far, only Tinkoff has succeeded in this direction in Russia which was originally conceived as an online bank where the client can solve any problem with the help of a digital service. The rest of the banks are only just eyeing such a model.

The Pochta Bank improved its Internet banking and managed to rise from the 8th place in last year's rating to the 4th place in both ratings this year.

5. Trust, Promsvyazbank; Raiffeisen

In some major banks, like Tinkoff, Alfa Bank, and Sberbank that initially focus on digital services, the audience of mobile banking already exceeds the audience of the Internet bank. In this regard, according to experts, they slow down the development of the Internet bank.

For this reason, banks that invest in the development of the online platform, and not in the mobile version, Trust, Pochta Bank, and Levoberezhniy, got the top places of the rating.

6. Trust, Promsvyazbank; Bank of Kazan

"Now the mobile first concept is dominated in the banking sphere, and somewhere even the mobile only concept on which big players are oriented," explains Frank RG CEO Yuri Gribanov.

Today the main device to use digital services is not even a tablet but a smartphone. Personal computers are overshadowed, and bank user services too, giving way to mobile solutions.

7. Uralsib; MKB

The percentage of the population that uses the mobile Internet is growing steadily every year and today it is already 71% (against 15% in 2013).

8. Alfa Bank; Sberbank

Sberbank explains its strategy regarding the online banking as follows: "Many signals indicate the growing interest of customers to the mobile application. In July last year, the active audience of the Sberbank Online mobile application exceeded the number of users of the web version. Now the active audience of the application exceeds 35 million people and grows by 60% per year, while the audience of the web version remains at the level of 15 million people. "

9. Raiffeisen; Alfa Bank

Mobile and classic Internet banking, which are actively developing, still do not allow users to completely switch to digital channels. Existing online services still do not offer customers the most complex operations; for example, a bank customer still can not change his personal data in an online bank or close products. Experts believe that, most likely, this is due to the reluctance of banks to develop services that do not bring them direct earnings.

10. St. Petersburg Bank; Avangard

Many banks do not extend the functionality of their remote maintenance systems since existing approaches to user identification are vulnerable. Perhaps, the Unified Biometric System, which is planned to be introduced, will remove some of the bankers' concerns on this issue.