A large Russian bank found out that a third of Siberians would not hesitate to contact a robot in a bank branch

A VTB survey showed* that 29% of Siberians would not hesitate to contact a robot in a bank branch. This is the national average; for example, among surveyed residents of the Far East, 38% are ready to consult with a robot.

However, almost a quarter of the adult population wants to communicate only with living employees, a VTB survey conducted for SPIEF 2026 showed.

The level of consent to communicate with robots in banks is especially high when it comes to routine operations. Thus, 74% of Russians are ready to receive information from a robot about the conditions for deposits, 57% are ready to open an account or card, and 61% are ready to report fraud. At the same time, only a third of Russians (34%) would trust a robot to issue a loan or mortgage, and 47% would trust the resolution of complaints and disputes. This suggests that in complex, emotionally charged situations, people still expect human interaction.

This attitude is formed against the backdrop of everyday experience: the vast majority of Russians already interact with robotic systems. 67% use voice assistants, 60% use chatbots on websites and applications, 45% use ATMs and terminals. The smallest share of Russians interacted with delivery robots – only 13%, as well as with physical robot consultants – 9%.

However, in Moscow these figures are higher – 18% and 12%, respectively. At the same time, the vast majority of citizens already have an idea of ​​the existence of androids: 65% have heard about them in general terms, another 28% are familiar with them in detail. Only 7% of respondents had not encountered this topic at all.

The main expectations of Russians from banking robots are competence, speed and accuracy. Survey participants see in them the possibility of round-the-clock work, the absence of bias, minimizing errors and even reducing the cost of services. More than half (54%) of Russians believe that a robot can handle customer service better than a human, especially in standard scenarios. At the same time, 41% believe that robots are effective only in solving simple tasks, and 30% are confident that a human employee will always be out of competition.

The main concerns associated with the possible robotization of the banking service system are technical failures, the inability to resolve an unusual situation, leakage of personal data, and loss of jobs of living employees. However, 52% of Russians believe that trust in the bank will not change with the appearance of robots; for 14% of survey participants, trust will even increase, for 22% it will decrease slightly, and for 12% it will drop significantly.

“We are on the threshold of a new phase of digitalization of banking services. Russians are already ready to be served by humanoid robots. However, banks should implement them wisely. Here we can draw a parallel with the use of artificial intelligence: we need not to replace people completely, but to create a hybrid model, where robots will take on the routine, and employees will take on more complex, creative and individual tasks,” said Vadim Kulik, Deputy President and Chairman of the Board of VTB.

*The VTB survey was conducted in May 2026. It was attended by 1.5 thousand respondents aged 18-65 years old who live in cities with a population of over 100 thousand people.