“A deposit in your smartphone”: Banks are increasingly offering bonuses for online deposits
The ability to open, renew or close a deposit remotely is gradually becoming one of the basic requirements Ukrainians have for banking products. In wartime, mobile banking increasingly affects not only the convenience of managing a deposit but also its return: some banks offer additional interest rate bonuses for opening deposits online.
This was explained by Dmytro Zamotaiev, Director of the Retail Business Department at GLOBUS BANK.
In his view, air raid alerts, risks to bank branches, disruptions to public transport and the general unpredictability of wartime conditions are accelerating customers’ transition to remote banking services.
As of the end of Q1 2026, 38 banks acting as identity providers were connected to the NBU’s BankID System. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Digital Transformation in the spring covered 24 banks that had integrated Diia services for remote customer interactions. At the same time, there is currently no single official statistic on the number of proprietary mobile applications operated by Ukrainian banks.
In autumn, the development of remote services may further intensify competition in the deposit market. According to the expert’s forecast, banks will compete for depositors not only through nominal interest rates but also by offering special terms to customers who open deposits via mobile applications. For depositors, this provides an opportunity to compare terms quickly, place available funds or renew a deposit without visiting a branch.
“Today, being able to open a deposit from a smartphone has become an essential customer need. During an air raid alert, people should not have to travel across the city to a branch to renew a deposit or place their available funds,” said Dmytro Zamotaiev.
According to him, a bank’s technological capabilities are increasingly becoming an integral part of the deposit product itself.
“That is why banks are moving their deposit products to mobile applications more actively, while online deposits often come with an additional bonus on top of the base interest rate. For customers, this means combining two benefits: convenient access to the service and the opportunity to earn a higher return,” the expert emphasised.