In fact, I would argue that the safest distribution channel is F Droid and not Play Store.

I agree with this too! I don’t think I’ve seen any other app stores (on any platform) focus on reproducible builds.

giving access to your account only via SINGLE password and only asking for SMS OTP when transaction is done

This was a problem with US and Australian banks too. It’s still an issue in Australia, but some of the major banks in the USA have moved to sending 2FA requests to their mobile app, and either allowing OAuth or app-specific passwords to allow other services to get data from your bank account.