Steps to Build a Successful Mobile Banking App

The FinTech industry has advanced significantly over the last ten years in order to successfully meet the increasing demands and client expectations. Because of the fierce competition in the market, many companies have introduced new initiatives including Open Banking and revised payment services directives. Today's customers strive to avoid going to the bank as much as possible; instead, they prefer using the mobile banking system, thereby allowing for much easier completion of all corporate banking procedures through an app. This has created the foundation for better customer services and products.

Why Building a Banking App is Important 

Mobile banking is a safe, remote banking option that benefits both customers and financial organizations. There  are a lot of advantages to building a standard and efficient mobile banking app, which include the following:

1. Direct communication with the customer

Direct interaction with a customer is always a priority in mobile banking applications. This is because customers feel a sense of worth and importance each time they use the app; it makes them feel like the bank understands their needs and is ever ready to help them sort out these needs.

2. Gives banks a competitive edge 

There are so many banks today and in order to stand out from the competition, you have to offer certain features that make banking easier for your customers. Practically every forward-thinking bank has a mobile banking app. So if you want to maintain your competitive edge, it’s imperative you set up one right away, that is if you don't already have one.

3. Reduces workload for employees

By building a banking app, more financial system processes are digitised, and employees have less workload. This ultimately improves their productivity and efficiency.

4. Helps banks save money

By utilizing technologies like blockchain, ML, and AI, banks are able to reduce their resource investment and increase their financial savings. AI-enabled chatbots are one feature that reduces the need for customer care agents.

5. Prompt feedback

There is literally no bank with hundreds of thousands of customers that can process customer requests with just physical offices and a contact centre as quickly as a mobile application does.

6. Instant transactions 

A major benefit of mobile banking apps is convenience. Imagine being stuck in a place where there is no nearby ATM and you need to make a quick money transfer. With mobile apps, you could make that transfer instantly and even download evidence of payment. Moreover, you won't be able to carry out urgent business after business hours if you rely on going to the bank. Regardless of the time of day, night, or even on a bank holiday, you can easily complete financial transactions using these apps.

7. Enhanced security 

Thanks to security features like multi-factor authentication, pins, facial identification, and fingerprint locks, these applications are safe and secure. Also, in the event of theft or a lost phone, banks provide you with the option of remotely disabling the banking app. Even sharing your location with other customers is permitted by some banks to track down fraud.

8. Access to all banking services 

Almost all banking services are accessible through the banking app. You are not required to go to a bank branch. For instance, using this service, you can transfer funds, pay bills, instantly start an FD, make payments, and get bank statements. 

9. Eliminates linguistic barriers 

There are multilingual mobile apps for numerous financial institutions. This makes it simpler for many people to use mobile banking independently. Because the rural populace actively uses these multilingual banking apps, society is becoming more banking-centric.

10. Customers can monitor their finances 

Customers can constantly keep tabs on their finances thanks to mobile banking apps. Keeping an eye on your spending will help you avoid going overboard. This will eventually help them improve their money management skills and start saving more money over time.

How Does a Bank App Work?

Several banks have mobile apps that you may download to your smart device to quickly access your bank account. Mobile banking transactions could vary depending on the capabilities/features of the app and often include getting account balances and listings of recent transactions, paying bills electronically, depositing checks remotely, making peer-to-peer payments, and transferring money between accounts. Some apps also let users download and occasionally print copies of their statements on-site.   

Steps to Build a Successful Mobile Banking App

1. Do proper research

Conducting extensive research to discover the market's leaders and outsiders as well as their strengths and shortcomings is crucial before you begin building a mobile banking app. Additionally, it helps you know what users expect from a banking app. This will assist you in creating a list of requirements for your application that benefits everyone. This step typically lasts about 1-2 months. You can utilize generally known techniques to optimize it, including a SWOT analysis, which is a study aimed at determining and evaluating the project's strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and possible threats. Opportunities are defined as things that give a project a chance to accomplish something new, such as gaining new customers, introducing new technology, or rebuilding business processes; threats, on the other hand, are things that can harm the project and rob it of its current advantages, for example, new competitors.

2. Create a prototype

Due to the complexity of a banking application, developers typically create a prototype first using guidelines drafted from user input. If you’re a developer, you shouldn’t start developing software until you get approval. You cannot know what the users expect if you don’t conduct proper research. 

3. Integrate security measures

It should go without saying that mobile banking applications require far stronger security guarantees than other open applications. Therefore, you must appoint a staff that has experience producing related items if you want to assure adequate compliance. For instance, compared to standard applications, banking software has a much broader list of regulatory security protocols (such as PSD2, GDPR, PCI DSS, etc.). This means that it is crucial to confirm that the intended functionality conforms with all of these policies before beginning work on a product.

4. Design the UI/UX 

Designing a banking app enables developers to show clients a minimally functional version of the product before business logic and functions are implemented. Speaking particularly about how mobile banking applications are made, it is crucial that they support web accessibility, which is, by the way, governed by the law in some nations. The WCAG 2.0 criteria serve as the foundation for the majority of these web laws.

5. Select tech stack

Before implementing anything that is concealed from the target customers, the developers select a tech stack, primarily focused on the bank’s objectives and budget. Depending on the functional requirements and the mobile OS of choice, developers will then choose one or more software tools.

6. Build the app

Developers start putting the application's functionality into place once everything has received final clearance. The application is tested numerous times as the various phases of its development are finished. It's critical for the bank to communicate with the development team frequently as well as provide feedback at each stage of development. This could take about 3-6 months depending on how complicated the functionality is.

7. Release the app 

Following a series of successful tests, the app is released, accompanied by IT experts so that any issues may be quickly fixed. According to the OS they were designed for, public applications are submitted to Google Play and the App Store. It is crucial to keep in mind that costs do not stop when the application is made available to the general public. You will continue to incur costs for server space, technology support, payment gateway integration, etc. on a periodic basis.

8. Update the app

As the banks expand and the customer base grows, different needs will have to be met. Therefore the apps should be regularly updated and new features should be added. To effectively meet the needs of customers, you’ll have to keep researching as explained in step 1.

How Much Does Development Cost for a Banking App?

Costs associated with developing and deploying a banking app are a significant portion of the overall budget. The first section of the following formula illustrates how it is generally computed: By multiplying the total number of hours required for development by the hourly rate charged by the developer, you can calculate the precise cost of creating a banking app.

Number of hours required for development  X Hourly rate of developer + Costs incurred after product release + Other costs unrelated to development (design, management, etc)  = Total cost of app development

The total cost of the program also accounts for expenses incurred after release, such as marketing and customer support, as well as other expenses unrelated to the development itself (design, analytics, management). The development of mobile banking apps is dependent on four primary factors:

• The complexity of the bank app: The cost of development is directly influenced by the number and complexity of features. You will spend half as much to create an MVP first as compared to a scaled product.
• Choice of tech stack: The cost of development is also influenced by the choice of coding languages, libraries, and APIs.Even though native languages like Swift and Kotlin are frequently used by app developers to create iOS and Android banking apps, some applications need specialized knowledge and programming languages that go beyond the conventional method.
• The development team's location: Just for comparison, the average developer hourly wage in the US is roughly $100 to $150, whereas outsourcing development services to India will cost you about $20 to $30 per hour.
• Type of team: The cost of recruiting an internal team and the cost of using freelance services are very different. Although the latter is generally less expensive, using freelancers has risks connected to the calibre of the code.

The table below is a summary of the features of a bank app, the estimated time needed to create the features and the estimated cost for each feature.

Bank App Features	Approximate number of hours needed to create each feature	Estimated Cost($) at $100-$150 per hour
Authorization	480	48,000-72,000
Quick access to account details( account balance, card-related services, etc)	240	24,000-36,000
Transactions	480	48,000-72,000
Transaction history	240	24,000-36,000
Push notifications	120	12,000-15,000
AI Chatbot/ customer service	480	48,000-72,000
Spending analytics	240	24,000-36,000
QR code scan	120	12,000-18,000
Locations of bank branches and ATM offices	120	12,000-18,000
Cashback service	240	24,000-36,000
Splitting bills	480	48,000-72,000
Third-party services	480	48,000-72,000
One-click payment options(like Google Pay)	480	48,000-72,000
Total	4,200	420,000-630,000

Our Experience in Building a Mobile Banking App 

We at  Mobirevo focus on the best practices for building mobile banking apps, and we carefully consider the objectives, aspirations, and challenges of our clients. We ensure that every feature functions as it should before we release the project. Also, our QA specialists investigate each user story while doing manual and automated tests. We have handled over 300 projects which include the development of banking apps, so you can rest assured that your product is in capable hands.   

Conclusion

Mobirevo is a leading mobile app development company in Nigeria that has offered development services to companies in finance, healthcare, construction, retail, consumer products, logistics, industrial engineering, and entertainment over the years. Let’s talk about making your Mobile app ideas a reality! We follow certified enterprise mobile app development process steps to ensure the success of your app's launch. Our skilled mobile app developers are here to assist you with your digital transformation. You can contact us today to get a free quote. Our team at Mobirevo strives to provide unrivaled services to all of our valued clients. You can also check out our case study page to see our client’s portfolio and better understand the quality of the services we deliver. Also, contact us if you have any questions about our services, and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Want to receive more content like this? You can sign up for our newsletter, which features curated opinions and Mobile app development tools for building remarkable digital assets. If you sign up for our weekly newsletter, you will be the first to know when we publish fantastic like this. You can also visit our blog to see other content created with love by our amazing team.