REWARDING: The more active customers are, the more they can put in a high-interest account

Russia’s Alfa-Bank has introduced a new savings account linked to an activity tracker, which rewards customers who exercise more with a higher interest rate.

Developed in partnership with Moscow-based 42 Agency, the new Activity savings account can be used with RunKeeper, Fitbit or Jawbone Up trackers.

Customers connect their activity tracker to their savings account online to use the service. Then, with every step they take, money is transferred from their current account into a special savings account with a higher interest rate — currently 6%.

Users can choose how much money is transferred per metre walked, from one to 50 kopeks, and a maximum 25,000 metres per day can be moved into the savings account.

“We have decided to combine this uninteresting money saving process into something that all of us have to do every day: walk,” says project leader Tamara Zuykova in a video demonstration of the service:

Customers using the service are saving up to twice as much as the average and walking 1.5 times as far, the bank adds. “The more you move, the more you earn,” says Lucas Zaiden, 42 Agency’s creative director.