How to build a Fintech App?

The finance industry has been using various technologies to fulfill their clients’ needs for a very long time. Fintech is one of the fastest-growing industries globally as it offers high-level security and convenience over traditional forms of financial services.

The Business Research Company estimates that the Fintech industry will grow up to USD 158014.3 Million by 2023. According to this survey, in the USA alone, 60% of credit unions and 49% of banks believe that fintech partnerships are essential. Hence, it is clear how fintech is taking over the finance industry. Fintech apps are helping to facilitate this growth. But how?

In this article, we will discuss everything about fintech apps by answering the following questions:

• What is a fintech app?
• What are the features a fintech app must have?
• What are the various types of fintech apps?
• What are some innovative trends for fintech app development?
• What is the technology stack used to build a fintech app?
• How to create a fintech app?

Let’s begin.

What is a fintech app?

Fintech apps refer to the web or mobile applications dealing with financial services. Fintech apps are prevalent these days, as most financial services are being carried out digitally to fulfill them efficiently and quickly.

What are the features a fintech app must have?

Some must-have features for fintech apps are:

1. Simplicity
2. Push Notifications
3. Personalization
4. High-level security

Let’s discuss them in detail

Simplicity

Fintech apps deal with very critical information. Hence, the application should be as simple as possible. Everything should be direct and users shouldn’t face a tough time while navigating around the app. It is crucial as the simplicity ensures that users don’t have to spend a lot of their time to figure out the fintech app and hence use it more.

Push Notifications

Push notifications are crucial for effective communication among bank officials and customers. They also ensure that regular updates about new policies and discounts are informed to the users on time. It helps financial service providers stay in touch with their clients and ensure that they are updated on everything.

Personalization

When fintech apps are paired with artificial intelligence, personalization becomes an added feature. AI analyzes the user’s patterns and provides relevant inputs about new updates, policies and benefits the financial institution offers. Hence, significant inputs and recommendations are personalized, help in client retention and bring in new audiences and revenue.

High-Level Security

High-level security is an essential feature that every fintech app must-have. Fintech apps deal with user’s financial information and any data breaches or security loopholes can cost their users a lot of money. Hence, various multi-layered features must be implemented to ensure users’ high-level security and financial information—for example, Biometrics and data encryption.

Features may also differ according to the type of fintech apps. Let’s take a look at the several kinds of fintech apps.

What are the various types of fintech apps?

There are several types of fintech apps based on the area of finance they deal with:

1. Digital Payments
2. Digital Banking
3. Digital Lending
4. Digital Investment
5. Consumer Finance

Let’s discuss them in detail.

Digital Payments

Digital payments refer to making payments in a cashless manner, quickly and safely. Fintech apps with online payment systems, e-wallets and digital currencies facilitate digital payments.

Digital payments tend to be one of the most prominent branches of the fintech industry. Statista estimates that global digital payments’ value will reach USD 6,685,102 Million by 2021.

Digital Banking

Banks develop fintech apps for their clients as digital banking has become a very convenient way for their users to manage their bank accounts and for bank officials to manage their clients’ data.
Digital banking fintech apps help users manage their bank accounts online without visiting banks at every minor inconvenience.

Digital Lending

Digital lending fintech apps include loan apps and lending software that facilitate conversations and settlements between lenders and borrowers. Financial institutions like banks and individual lenders use fintech apps to simplify the loan procedures and manage them efficiently.

Digital Investment

Digital investment fintech apps allow investors to research and invest in different financial assets and stock markets. Such apps supply relevant and insightful data to users to make informed decisions about their investment plans and act as a platform to facilitate investments.

Consumer Finance

Consumer finance fintech apps help their users in personal finance management. Such apps provide relevant tools and features to users to manage their expenses well, plan budgets and indulge in thoughtful spending.

Now that you know about the different kinds of fintech apps let’s look at the various innovative trends to build a fintech app.

What are some innovative trends for Fintech App Development?

Some innovative trends for Fintech App Development are:

1. Blockchain Technology
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
3. Big Data
4. Microservices

Let’s discuss them in detail.

Blockchain Technology

Blockchain is a distributed, transparent, immutable “chain of blocks,” which holds time-stamped records and data. It is a decentralized ledger, which makes it highly secure to store data. Hence, blockchain technology is highly dependable for fintech app development. Blockchain-based fintech apps are transparent, immutable and highly secure. It would assure users of their privacy as well as security. Everything will be recorded and stored on the blockchain. Hence it will make the transaction record-keeping more reliable and transparent.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence is beneficial in recognizing input data patterns and analyzing them. AI-based fintech apps would be a great solution to detecting fraud and any questionable financial system activities. Also, in-depth data analysis will help financial service providers develop more personalized policies and increase revenue streams.

Big Data

Big data will help financial service providers to build a highly reliable and sharp fintech app that would provide its users with everything they require. Data analytics enables you to figure out user patterns and provide valuable insights from the app’s massive amount of data.

Microservices

Microservices work well with blockchain and AI. They are helpful to ensure that the app is structured as a set of interrelated features and services. The application becomes faster and the data is handled in a decentralized manner. It also reduces the amount of time and money invested in the fintech app development process.
Now that you know about the various technology trends for innovative fintech app development let’s look at the technology stack you can use to build a fintech app.

What is the technology stack used to develop a fintech app?

It is vital to choose the appropriate technology stack to build a fintech app with high-quality functionality. Depending on the type of application you want to make, choosing the right technology stack can help you save time, money and ensure robust fintech app development.

Here, we have listed a few preferable technology stack options you can opt for to build a fintech app.

Native App Development

If you are looking to build a platform-specific fintech app, then here is the technology stack you should use according to the platform:

1. iOS-based fintech app

• • Objective-C: It is a programming language that provides object-oriented capabilities to developers, along with a dynamic runtime environment to build robust solutions. It is used for writing any software in OS X and iOS.
  • Swift: It is a programming language that provides developers with dynamic libraries to improve app performance with easily maintainable, advanced features and less error-prone codes.
  • Apple XCode: It is a development environment that is full-featured to sustain user interface and debugging tools.
  • iOS SDK: The iOS Software Development Kit, combined with XCode, enables developers to write iOS apps using Swift and Objective-C.

2. Android-based fintech app

• • Java: It is an object-oriented programming language that provides developers with comprehensive open-source tools and libraries. You can create a highly secure fintech app with Java as compared to other programming languages.
  • Kotlin: It is a programming language that can improve flaws present in Java-based application models. It can provide a cleaner and lighter solution for API deficiencies as well.
  • Android Studio: It uses on-device debugging tools, emulators, etc., to offer a flexible building and deployment system for developing high-quality mobile applications.
  • Android SDK: The Android Software Development Kit offers an extensive set of development tools to build apps and update them.

Cross-Platform App Development

If you are looking to build a fintech app with a single codebase that can be work on multiple platforms, then here is the suitable technology stack:

1. React Native: It is an open-source framework based on JavaScript. It is one of the preferable technologies for cross-platform app development. It is used to develop Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and many more applications.
2. C#: It is a significant programming language used for cross-platform app development that enables developers to utilize device-specific APIs and other functionality from its code.

Hybrid App Development

If you are looking to build a hybrid fintech app, then here is the suitable technology stack:

1. HTML5: It is one of the most popular and convenient technologies to build hybrid applications.
2. PhoneGap: It is a popular framework for hybrid mobile app development. It offers an economical solution to users.

Other Effective Technologies

Some other technologies that can be useful in robust fintech app development are:

1. Node.js: It is an open-source, cross-platform Javascript runtime environment. It offers several tools and libraries to build robust frameworks.
2. C++: It is a programming language that acts as a multipurpose tool to build apps on multiple platforms.

Now that you know what technologies you can use to develop fintech apps let’s see how you can build a fintech app.

How to create a fintech app?

Fintech app development is not an easy task. Since the app’s purpose is financial, it is crucial to ensure that the development process is carried out correctly.

Here, we have listed a few steps that are highly essential to build a fintech app.

1. Determine your niche and ensure legal compliances
2. Decide features and estimate costs
3. Create/Hire a team
4. UI/UX Design
5. Develop MVP
6. Improve and Support your Fintech App

Let’s discuss them in detail.

Determine Your Niche and Ensure Legal Compliances

Before beginning with the development process, it is essential to determine your niche. It implies that you need to figure out the kind of fintech app you want to build and the area of fintech on which you wish to focus. Earlier in this article, we have explained several fintech types of apps. You can either decide your niche to figure out the features or see what features you want in your app and then select your specialization accordingly.

After you’ve decided on your niche, it is crucial to ensure all legal compliances according to the geographical areas in which your application will function. Fintech apps deal with very critical data. Hence, it is crucial to ensure that it is legally compliant to guarantee your clients’ high security and privacy. You should carefully work through this step as it is essential. Not ensuring legal compliances can get you in a lot of legal troubles and under hefty fines.

Decide Features and Estimate Costs

After you determine your niche, it is time to decide on features for your fintech app. Make sure that you only include the necessary components. Too many options that aren’t required may end up confusing your clients and make your fintech app complicated.
Also, you must estimate your budget before beginning the development process. Budget constraints in the later stages of development can slow down the process. You should know what you’re getting into and have an estimated amount ready to invest to not face any difficulties in the later development stages.
It always helps prepare a project scope documentation to have all your requirements and estimated budget ready on paper.

Create/Hire a Team

The most crucial step is to create or hire the right development team for your project. To build a fintech app, you need many people with technical expertise in various fields, such as:

• UI Designers
• Web Developers
• Project Managers
• Quality Assurance Specialists
• Android/iOS Developers
• Business Analyst
• Front-End
• Back-End Developers, etc.

You must form a team of highly experienced experts to ensure high-quality app development and maximum invested money utilization. It is always helpful to hire an experienced fintech app development team. It helps you save both time and money.

The number of members in your development team will depend on the size of your project. The bigger the project, the more members will be required. If your project size is small, you can also hire fintech developers individually, according to the skillsets you need.

UI/UX Design

Good UI/UX design is essential for all fintech apps. It is the part with which the user is going to interact the most. Hence, it is vital to ensure that the app is easy-to-use.

It helps create multiple prototypes to figure out which UI/UX design suits your app the best. This step won’t be such a hassle after you hire an experienced team. Some tips for a good UI/UX design for a fintech app are:

• The functionality should be easy-to-use.
• Don’t crowd the application with needless features.
• The clients shouldn’t have difficulty in finding options.
• It should be straightforward.
• The colors shouldn’t be too dull or too bright.

Develop MVP

It is always good to test your idea before beginning the lengthy development process. MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product, a proof of concept including enough features to give it a test run.
It will help you ensure that your fintech app is running well and bringing value to its users. You attract early feedbacks with an MVP. Hence it increases the scope of improvement and reduces the risk factors.

Improve and Support your Fintech App

Development and deployment of your application are not the end stages of its development cycle. After development, every fintech app should be regularly improved and updated to ensure that it is functioning correctly. Also, new features can be added from time to time, and legal compliance can be updated.

Conclusion

Fintech apps are growing in the financial industry. According to a report, the USA has seen a 60% growth in fintech app usage in 2020.

It is crucial to ensure that fintech app development is carried out efficiently to combat risks and provide high-quality functionality.

To get a fintech app developed for your business, get in touch with our fintech app development experts and discuss your requirements.