Meet Misa and Erica. They are both smart, polite, and what is most important – never sleeping, financial assistants. Misa is a part of the MintZip FinTech application while Erica belongs to the Bank of America app team. Because of constant training on financial and behavioral sciences, these chatbots can deliver immediate, data-based consultations whether you want to invest your money, automate savings, or just receive information about your recent transactions.
The sphere of personal and proactive money management has entered the era of volatile development where customers strive to have the information about their finances in their pockets and financial institutions, banks, and startups are actively addressing a financial software development company to meet these needs.
In this article, we will provide you with the most important tips and steps to develop your own FinTech app that will meet the requirements of your business and customers and won’t cost abnormal sums of money.
Choose a Niche
Fintech has evolved into an enormous industry with a wide range of sub-niches. Therefore, before launching the development process one should conduct accurate market research to choose the niche that is on-demand, needs improvements, and is likely to receive investments.
There are 7 general types of FinTech applications to choose from:
- Banking apps;
- Loan apps;
- Investment apps;
- Insurance apps;
- Tax management apps;
- RegTech apps;
- Personal finance management apps.
Set Clear Project Vision
Identifying the scope of your project, setting deadlines, and choosing the main features that should be included in your application is another important stage. Ask yourself 4 questions:
- What do you want to achieve with this FinTech app?
- Who is it built for?
- What are the needs of your target audience?
- Who are your competitors and which features do they use in their apps?
Ensure Legal Requirements
Fintech applications must comply with a variety of legal requirements such as GDPR, CCPA, FCA, PRA, ePrivacy regulations, etc. The number of regulations depends on the country or sometimes even the state or region you design the app for. One of the main tasks for FinTech entrepreneurs is to ensure that all the regulatory requirements of the region they intend to develop for are met.
Make Your App Personalized
With the help of AI and big data, personalized FinTech apps manage to deliver a better customer experience and help keep users engaged. The art of making the right offer to the right customer at the right time can boost your revenues and significantly increase the loyalty of your users.
According to the research held by Boston Consulting Group, personalization in banking can bring up to $300 billion in revenue for every $100 billion in assets.
Hire a Team of Developers
One of the most cost-effective and time-efficient ways to ramp up a development team is to outsource software. Outsourcing allows you to hire the best talent without being limited by geographical borders. By delegating to a team of experts, you receive complete control over each stage of development while still having enough time to concentrate on your core business. Carefully check the company’s portfolio, websites, and independent platforms such as Clutch, GoodFirms, etc. to make sure that you’ve chosen the best team that will implement your idea from the technical and legal side.
Develop MVP
A minimum viable product is a testing and simplified version of your application. Why do you need one? First of all, it shows the current needs of the market and functions that are crucial for the success of your product. Secondly, with the presentation of an already functioning app, it’s much easier to receive the investment. Thirdly, user testing shows which components of UI and UX are enhancing user experience and which of them should be improved or changed. Finally, MVP is a perfect tool to test monetization ideas and enter the market sooner.
Main Features to Include in a Fintech Application
Robo-advisors
Modern robo-advisors in FinTech apps not only track users’ expenses and remind them about regular payments, but they can also analyze behavioral patterns and make useful recommendations based on users’ actions. The NerdWallet survey has shown that 49% of Americans believe that they usually make impulsive purchases. With the help of robo-advisors, users can learn how to manage their money more efficiently, give up bad spending habits, and receive better customer service.
QR Code and Scanning
As a substitute for tedious entering of numbers, enable your users to use the scanning feature of the application. Such a method is not only more convenient but also more secure and error-free. One of the pioneers of using QR codes in apps, Wintrust and FIS, set up ATMs where their customers could just scan the QR on their phones to withdraw money in 2015. According to their estimations, such a withdrawal took 6 times less time compared to a regular one.
Notifications
Notifications are an indispensable feature of any app. They are highly personalized for each user segment based on their purchase history, profile, and in-app behavior analysis. Banking alerts keep users aware of the activity in their financial accounts, inform about suspicious activities, send personal promotions and loyalty programs. Businesses in turn keep users engaged and increase retention rate.
API Integration
API integration enables data access among different parties that are involved in financial processes. They allow users to connect with websites, mortgage services, banks, etc., and easily transfer money, make purchases, or deal without leaving a FinTech application.
According to Deloitte, 22% of banks have already started using their own API platforms while 39% are in progress.
Wrapping Up
Despite many challenges in the FinTech sphere, building a stable and functional FinTech app is a great opportunity to develop your own business or to enter one of the markets where investors are seeking opportunities related to financial assets. The formula is not simple but effective: professional team, robust features, legal compliance, and clear project vision.
Hopefully, this short guide will help you to build a FinTech app that will serve millions of customers.