Tinkoff preps super-app

Russia's Tinkoff is beta-testing a new super-app, combining traditional banking services with lifestyle and leisure features and a marketplace for third party API-based in-app options.

Artem Yamanov, SVP at Tinkoff, comments: “The Tinkoff app has evolved into more than a traditional mobile bank, and the latest changes are the culmination of this transformation. The super-app is both our own version of the App Store, with its own mini apps, and the first WeChat-like app in the Russian or any European financial market, featuring products and services from our partners."

Shortly to be publicly released in version 5.0 for iOS, the app offers digital banking services, combined with an array of lifestyle connections for leisure pursuits, an in-app marketplace for products provided by approved third party partners, and end-to-end integration with the bank's robot voice assistant Oleg.

The first applications in the marketplace will enable users to make a doctor’s appointment - in both private and public clinics - and sign up for a beauty salon visit.

”Going forward, we will be developing partnerships with businesses of any size, from Instagram bloggers to Russia's largest B2C companies," says Yamanov

To avoid information overload, the bank is using artificial intelligence to detect user preferences and provide a personalised experience.

“Artificial intelligence will be able to predict the user’s needs based on their location, the time of day, recent transactions and many other factors," states Yamanov. "Depending on these variables, it will immediately offer options to suit the customer's needs, saving them time and effort.