Running financial operations via FinTech apps is hardly anything new in 2023. Online banking and payment services like PayPal are rather a norm than not for individuals and organizations these days. At the same time, we cannot but admit that the FinTech sector is still in its infancy. Not every financial institution has migrated to digital yet. Besides, the capabilities and options inherent in FinTech apps are far from being exhausted. Technology advancements never stand still, and plenty of vacant space is available for FinTech application development.
The range of financial services is vast but limited to allow for determining the types of relevant FinTech apps. The scope of features worth implementing in the apps is broad but not infinite to be defined. The development pipeline is moderately complex but known well enough to understand the FinTech app development lifecycle. In the present article, we have aggregated the essential aspects revealing how to create a FinTech app. Read, learn, and move to digital finance wisely.
Key Reasons to Develop a Fintech App
The current landscape presents a prime opportunity for developing a fintech app. Here are three persuasive reasons to consider creating mobile fintech applications:
Increasing financial illiteracy
Contrary to expectations, financial literacy is not improving. A 2015 S&P Survey revealed that 57% of Americans were financially illiterate, a situation that worsened by 2019, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Their report highlighted alarming trends: widespread debt, and significant financial stress and anxiety among Americans, particularly millennials. This generation, which is crucial to the future economy, shows a stark lack of financial education and optimism about their financial future. Amidst this, there's a growing skepticism towards human financial advisors, creating a ripe market for a fintech app that simplifies financial management for the average person without complex jargon.
Widespread mobile phone usage
With over 5.13 billion unique mobile phone users globally, representing about two-thirds of the world's population, and an estimated 5.5 billion smartphones as of 2019, the potential reach of mobile apps is enormous. Most smartphone users have internet access, indicating a vast audience for online services. While apps have transformed various sectors like shopping, education, and healthcare, fintech apps lag in functionality. There's a significant market gap for innovative fintech applications, such as those that could streamline aspects of property rental management, which is still largely offline.
The rise of open banking
Banking has evolved from traditional, in-person services to digital, user-centric solutions, driven by the concept of open banking. This paradigm shift has led banks to embrace interconnectivity and data sharing, investing in APIs that allow third parties to develop value-added services like mobile credit monitoring, loan processing, and real-time financial management. Open banking enables the rapid development and deployment of complex fintech solutions, bypassing the extensive development time and certification processes previously required for handling financial data.
Key Features of FinTech Apps
Despite the variety of FinTech solutions, some commonly accepted features make all of them belong to a specific app class. It does not mean that each FinTech application must comprise everything listed below, however. The features help us recognize what is worth expecting from a typical FinTech solution in terms of its functionality.
Cybersecurity
Thieves, scammers, and hackers feel the smell of money emanating from every software product that operates with finance somehow. They hunt for personal data to reach the money behind it. Hence, advanced data security is critical for any FinTech app. The cybersecurity features are diverse to be implemented in various app components, from invisible numbers of banking cards to two-factor authentication with facial recognition. Dealing with numerous security features can cause inconvenience to users. However, measures against threats and risks inherent in financial transactions are worth another couple of minutes spent re-entering a password or getting better fingerprints.
API integration
Application Programming Interface (API) works in the background of numerous features allowing FinTech apps to be integrated with various platforms and software. The API technology is a real find for FinTech app development vendors who are spared from having to create many useful functions from scratch. They can utilize the capabilities of powerful, sophisticated solutions providing a wide range of services from geolocation to AI-based chatbots. Why reinvent the wheel if digital giants like Google and OpenAI can share their tech advancements?
Customer support
People tend to take everything related to finance seriously. When they doubt one or another feature in finance-related software, many prefer doing nothing rather than going through trial and error. The fear of making a fatal mistake prevents many users from exploring and utilizing the full functionality of the system. Their user experience suffers when they cannot assess the product in its entirety. As a result, their service provider appears to be underappreciated. The customer support feature is a must for FinTech apps, therefore. Live communication with a human operator is not the only option: chats with AI bots can cover the lion’s share of customer support issues nowadays.
Customization
Following the latest trends is more than a fad, especially in FinTech application development. Modern people share their opinions through social media when they detect something disruptive among online financial services. Since only the sky's the limit for customer experience improvement, any FinTech vendor should have technical opportunities to meet customer expectations. Competitors never sleep to make any financial service provider stay alert and flexible in holding customers with new features. Any FinTech app cannot afford to be petrified, and customization capabilities must be available to keep the system easily upgradeable.
Account management
FinTech applications are about personal financial management in one way or another. Whichever type of software we use for handling our money, a particular functionality to control our bank accounts should be available there. Integrated payment gateways, for example, help users move their funds across various channels and markets. Particular features can be gathered into specific sets depending on the mission for which a FinTech app is built. At the same time, data analytics covering debit and credit accounts should be present in the app to some extent. Deep integration with banks is what distinguishes FinTech apps from other digital solutions.
In addition to the functions mentioned above, many special ones (crypto-trading tools, for instance) can be developed and implemented in FinTech solutions. However, intuitive usability with user-friendly interfaces must be a common refrain under which all FinTech applications must operate. Otherwise, they risk turning into another challenge for users instead of being problem-solvers.
Basic Types of FinTech Apps
Dividing FinTech solutions into types is conditional since many solutions are rather hybrid ones that comprise various features inherent in different app types. However, the following classification is commonly accepted.
Banking apps
Banking apps are a specific type of fintech product that enable users to manage their personal finance, such as tracking transactions, analyzing expenditures, setting saving goals, opening and closing accounts, paying bills, and more. This type of FinTech software is a powerful tool that helps users interact with banking organizations online. The main advantage of banking apps is enabling users to manage their accounts on the go via mobile devices. It saves time, and time is money.
Payment apps
Payment apps constitute a more specific type of digital FinTech solution. At first glance, their functionality is narrower than the one of banking apps. Transferring money in and out is the only thing payment apps are made for. They lack many features available in online banking solutions. At the same time, payment apps can offer unique channels for sending and receiving payments beyond banks. Many P2P (peer-to-peer) payment systems like PayPal or Revolut allow users to avoid intermediaries and accelerate money transfers significantly.
Investment/trading apps
The investment sector has undergone great changes recently. Digital technologies have contributed much to the transformation. Small singular investors form a massive pool of stock and crypto traders who make the so-called “whales” (rich institutional investors and investment funds) cede a significant share of markets to ordinary citizens. Stock, crypto, forex, and capital markets are accessible today through broker-free investment/trading FinTech apps. Almost all global stock/crypto exchanges have web-based and mobile applications providing users access to their markets via simplified AML/KYC procedures.
Insurance apps
One of the oldest service sectors is moving toward digitization slowly but steadily. Digital insurance policies with flexible coverage allow farsighted insurers to win in the severe competition inherent in the industry. Digital insurance apps help implement highly-personalized insurance plans allowing many providers to get a second wind. Besides, one application covers more clients than thousands of agents do. Enhanced personalization, improved arbitrage, instant insurance payments, and many other features make insurance apps innovative enough to attract new clients and retain existing ones.
Digital wallets
Digital wallets resemble payment apps in many aspects. At the same time, they are more versatile in terms of manageable assets, currencies, and payment methods. A digital wallet can store and manage various types of payment information, providing a single source for all types of payments and transactions. In contrast, a payment app is typically more specialized and focused on a specific type of transaction or payment. Such a difference allows digital wallets to occupy a standalone niche in FinTech application development.
FinTech App Development Pipeline
Many may argue that different FinTech apps should have correspondingly different development pipelines. Even if the idea seems logical, the actual order of things is more trivial. There is a unified FinTech app development process, no matter which application you will build. The following steps reveal how to develop a FinTech app.
Making discovery
This is where any software begins. The discovery phase implies a detailed plan of what should be done and how. A holistic outlook of a future product should appear as a result. It is worth defining the app type first. Understanding the target audience helps in choosing the revenue streams to determine the monetization model of the app. Compliance research should go far beyond the App Store/Google Play requirements since state regulators and taxation authorities meticulously track any financial activity.
If time and budget permit, releasing an MVP is strongly recommended. It allows for reaching the market with basic functionality, which can be expanded according to the product's evolving vision. The discovery phase results in a detailed description of the app’s functionality. Such a list of features forms the project’s technical specification.
Establishing teams
When the essential characteristics of your FinTech application are figured out, the composition of your development team becomes clearer. You can choose the cooperation model based on the scope of experts needed to complete the project. A few options are available: in-house developers, outsourcers, and freelancers. Each option has its specific pros and cons. The project complexity, timeframe, and budget determine which team fits your development pipeline best. A hybrid approach when in-house developers collaborate with outsourcers and freelancers is also possible.
To make no mistake in choosing your contractor, getting advice from a professional FinTech app development consultant can never hurt. In general, the following team composition is considered reasonable for building a FinTech app:
- UI/UX designers
- Web developers
- Mobile developers
- QA engineers
- DevOps engineers
- Project managers
Choosing a technology stack
Usually, selecting development technologies belongs to the team experts. They assess the project specification to determine the most appropriate technology stack. Some biases and personal preferences are not excluded, of course. However, true professionals never sacrifice the customer’s interests in favor of certain professional habits. At the same time, developers can propose some non-trivial approaches to the project. Unlike the customer, they can address the project from a different angle.
What if the customer never considers such technologies as, for example, .NET and JavaScript due to the lack of practical experience? What if the technology stack .NET-Angular-Vue seems to be the best option in terms of the time and resources spent?
Several famous companies use .NET to build their fintech apps, such as TD Bank, Suntrust Bank, and CitiBank. These companies utilize the power and efficiency of .NET technology to build their fintech platforms and products. Why so? The fact is that .NET technology is a compelling and efficient way to build fintech apps and services, allowing companies to provide their customers with leading-edge financial technology solutions that are both powerful and secure.
However, any technology stack is never a dogma in software development. Hence, there is always enough space for creativity and process optimization when choosing a technology stack for FinTech app development.
Designing UI/UX
User engagement, retention, and conversion depend directly on how UI/UX is designed in any FinTech app. Aligning positive user experience with various features specified by the project owner is challenging for designers. On the one hand, the app functionality should be fully disclosed to cover all possible needs of the users. On the other hand, they should face no constraints in finding and utilizing the capabilities of all available features. Users should feel confident operating with a FinTech solution when customer support comes into play as rarely as possible.
Maintaining a proper balance between user-friendly experience and financial security is a key trait of any FinTech app. A truly successful UX helps address customers’ pain points gently but reliably. An intuitively graspable UI provides a successful UX as few other things do. Designing UI/UX is so critical for FinTech application development that the involvement of no-name freelancers for such a responsible task is hardly a worthwhile approach. UI/UX is not part of FinTech app development which you can save on. Dedicated teams of experienced professionals should do the job. Hire FinTech software developers with a solid backstory to avoid problems and delays in designing UI/UX.
Creating the app
When the features’ design is finalized, developers can get down to various programming aspects of the product. The development phase can take weeks and months, depending on the complexity of a particular FinTech app. Nuances matter in FinTech application development. Mastering secure payment protocols and standards is one of the critical programming challenges. It can significantly impact the development time and cost along with scalable backend databases.
Needless to say that top-class professionals should manage and control the development process to guarantee the app’s usability and security to potential users. Launching an MVP first is advocated by many (if not all) FinTech app development experts. If the project is planned to occupy a relevant FinTech niche seriously and permanently, the basic functionality of an MVP is worth developing to realize the marketability of the upcoming app.
Testing the app
Continuous testing is the modern trend for a reason. It aligns with the best DevOps practices widely accepted by today’s software developers. Even the simplest FinTech application with a limited range of features can have various points of failure. Continuous testing facilitates development efficiency by detecting and fixing errors and bugs before they appear in a final build.
Experienced QA engineers familiar with DevOps approaches are hardly optional for FinTech application development. They protect the project’s reputation by ensuring the development and release process is comprehensive, rigorous, and transparent. As a result, users become confident that the project is meeting all quality and safety standards, leading to less risk and higher trust in the product or service.
Launching the app
Only practical operations with mass users can confirm or debunk your FinTech app's workability. Launching a Beta version to get rid of doubts and hesitations before the official release can be a worthwhile approach if the app functionally is multifaceted. Make your Beta accessible to a specific group of users (some local customers or your workmates) to get valuable feedback from real customers. It can take some extra time and resources, but remember that your business reputation is at stake.
Updating the app
The financial sector is changing rapidly since another technical advancement appears every day. The current instability in global banking and finance can also add momentum to sectoral competition. Regularly updating your FinTech app according to current trends is something more than a bon ton. It prevents your product from becoming obsolete long before its business lifecycle is over. A wise approach is to provide technical opportunities for updates and upgrades at the stage of development (if not at pre-production planning). The longer your FinTech app remains updatable, the stronger customer satisfaction you can account for. What other than satisfied users can better guarantee sustainable growth for your business?
How Businesses Benefit from FinTech Apps
Even when the classification, traits, and development process of FinTech apps are clear, financial organizations can lack the understanding of why they should opt for such software. In other words, some straight advantages of FinTech app development are worth articulating.
Faster transactions
FinTech apps allow for faster transactions and better cash flows. Moving money from a sender to a receiver in a couple of clicks makes FinTech apps correspond to the zeitgeist.
Reduced operating costs
Small and middle-sized businesses can save on operating expenditures with fewer staff members, smaller infrastructures, and simpler workflows when implementing FinTech solutions.
Enhanced popularity
The user-friendly financial operations conducted via FinTech apps make organizations more popular in the eyes of consumers. In turn, the increased popularity automatically enforces sales demands that lead to revenue growth at the end of the day.
Better customer care
Reaching a user audience for feedback is easier with FinTech apps, especially when mobile solutions are available. Automated communication channels such as AI-based chatbots set the bar high in improved customer support established through FinTech apps.
Improved competitiveness
Any company's economic growth depends directly on how it reaches the markets. The financial markets are hardly empty; they are full of rivals. FinTech apps help companies reach millions of customers simultaneously in an instant effective way to outperform less innovative competitors.
Fintech App Development Cost: What to Expect
When it comes to software development, particularly for fintech applications, there's no one-size-fits-all cost model. Fintech apps, known for their complexity, multiple integrations, advanced security measures, and layered technology, defy standard pricing structures.
As you embark on developing a fintech app, be prepared for fluctuating cost estimates, especially in the initial phases. During these stages, as you refine your vision for the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), the project scope can change significantly, impacting the budget.
Despite these variables, it's still possible to provide a general cost framework based on industry standards. For a basic fintech app compatible with both iOS and Android, expenses can range from $100,000 to $300,000. For more sophisticated financial solutions that incorporate multiple revenue streams, extensive features, and extensive third-party integrations, the investment can soar to between $800,000 and over $1,000,000.
While fintech app development costs can vary widely based on the project's complexity and specific requirements, these ballpark figures offer a starting point for budgeting and planning your fintech app venture.
Final Thoughts
The contemporary FinTech sector keeps developing actively to cover more and more customers with user-friendly solutions expanding the horizons of digital finance. Despite the traditional competition between various financial structures, such an innovative market as FinTech still has enough space for new players. The fastest and shortest way to reach a multi-million FinTech customer base implies developing a relevant FinTech application. The good news is that the range and scope of beneficial features of FinTech apps are limited by creativity and imagination only.
No lack of software technologies or development vendors is now available for building a FinTech app of any complexity. Dedicated teams of FinTech software developers are always at your disposal to share their deep professional expertise.
Contact our experts today to start your exciting journey across the amazing environment of digital finance hand-in-hand with true .NET professionals. Individually designed FinTech solutions with the shortest time to market await you at EXB Soft.
