How to Develop a Fintech App in 2024: an Ultimate Guide

In the remote era we live in today, Fintech apps spring up on the market, making both Fintech companies and banks direct rivals. A fintech app can offer customers a comfy and secure way to manage their money in the comfort of their homes. As a result, industry analysts predict that the FinTech app market will have 4.8 billion users by 2028. However, developing a secure and user-friendly fintech app can be tricky and quite difficult. That is why we have created this useful and detailed guide where we collected some of our professional insights and share our hands-on experience in developing a FinTech app effortlessly.

What is Fintech? 

Let’s start our fintech app development journey by defining what fintech is. The term “Fintech” is widely used to describe businesses that operate in the financial field. Plenty of companies offer innovative solutions for online payments and financial management. And most of them are startups. 

According to the Business Research Company, the fintech market will grow at a CAGR of 9.2% up to $158 billion by 2024 and will continue this rapid growth until 2025. 

It grows so fast thanks to the recent heavy investments in various fintech startups and increased internet use. Besides, today we tie money to everything we do, so Fintech covers many, if not all, aspects of people’s lives.

Learn more about Fintech: definition, evolution, and examples.

What is Fintech App Development?

Many fintech startups, banks, and financial institutions are looking for ways to grow and raise capital with the help of fintech apps. However, they need to come up with something unique and eye-grabbing to catch the attention of potential customers. 

Today, a fintech app can be built powered by numerous advanced technologies like blockchain, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. They all help to streamline and skyrocket the way fintech apps deliver financial services to customers. 

Fintech applications can be built on different platforms, including smartphones, tablets, PCs, or laptops, as well as different operating systems.

Why Your Business Needs a Fintech App 

Still wondering whether your company needs to invest in a fintech app today? Here are some reasons to say ‘Yes’.

• It’s a safe and easy way for customers to manage their money. Many people prefer managing their money online, and a fintech app is a cost-efficient and comfy way to manage all financial transactions with the help of a smartphone. 

• It makes people’s lives easier. Users can receive and send money in several clicks or instantly get the answer to their questions using AI-powered chatbots instead of going in-person to the physical bank. And they do not even need to browse a bank site, they need a smartphone.

• It’s a significant source of financial education. Financial literacy is very important today, and fintech apps can become the key for people to better understand how to manage their money wisely.

• It offers improved security. Security is a cornerstone of any business, especially in the financial sphere. Fintech apps are built with increased security using the best encryption technologies.     

Most Popular Types of Fintech Apps

The first step of fintech app development is the decision about the exact type of fintech app. Let's find out the widely used fintech apps for today.

Mobile/Online banking

Mobile banking is probably the most known and used type of Fintech app. It allows users to manage their accounts, transfer funds, and pay bills. We can divide mobile banking into two categories: 

• connected to brick-and-mortar banks;

• operated digitally. 

Both of them offer their customers 24/7 access to their money.

Discover how to create a mobile banking app in our article.

Mobile payments processors

Online or digital payments are probably one of the major categories of apps in fintech. Payment processing apps help customers better and faster manage their online transactions and payments. Such apps offer multiple payment options and instant transfer of funds between people.

Expense management systems

Businesses of all sizes use the expense management system to record all employee expenses, conduct payments, as well as track expenses. This software simplifies the process of employee expense reimbursement by automating this process and centralizing all the expenses in one system.

Neobanks

Neobanks, aka digital-only banks, are financial institutions that have changed the banking landscape. Why are they so popular? All the provided services are conducted online via your desktop or mobile app without the need to go anywhere. 

Today, we can divide neobanks into front-end and full-stack neobanks. The main difference between them is that full-stack neobanks possess the license to operate independently, whereas front-end ones rely on traditional brick-and-mortar banks to provide financial services to customers.

Investment fintech apps

People who deal with the stock market mainly use investment fintech apps. They offer some analytics and financial data for better investment management. They serve as financial advisors and allow the following of various stocks. Most of them also integrate with smartwatches and have smart notifications so that customers always know about the changes in the stock market.   

Digital wallets

Digital wallets facilitate online payments and securely store all virtual credit and debit cards. Besides, users can also store the documentation.

There are numerous types of digital wallets used in fintech apps, but among the most popular ones are open, semi-closed, and closed wallets. Open wallets are used for such operations as online transactions, in-store payments, purchases, and cashback, while semi-closed and closed ones are used only by certain types of retailers. 

Recently, crypto wallets have received much attention as they provide a place for storing cryptocurrency passwords. The main difference between crypto and ordinary digital wallets is that the crypto ones do not hold any currency, just store codes for cryptocurrency. 

Learn more about Agilie’s multi-digital wallet development.

Remittance fintech apps

Remittance applications, also known as money-transferring apps, allow users from all over the world to quickly transfer their money. Such fintech apps usually offer multi-bank and multi-currency services, management of various types of transfers, multiple languages, and currency support.

Legal Requirements for Fintech Apps

There are various legal requirements for fintech apps that businesses have to comply with, depending on the country they are operating in. It is crucial to study those requirements thoroughly before building the first fintech application. Here are some of the most popular legal requirements:

• GDPR compliance: GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation is a set of regulations on users’ data protection in the EU market.

• CFPB compliance: CFPB or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the institution that ensures consumers are treated fairly by entities offering consumer financial products.

• Local regulations: Targeting a certain area, companies’ owners must be informed about local laws and rules to work legally.

Features of a Successful Fintech App

Considering developing a fintech app, it is important to carefully think of the necessary features to be user-friendly and well-received on the market. But businesses should sprinkle it with unique features to stand against tough competition.

Let's discover the go-to basic features the fintech app must have:

• Strong security: companies must protect their users’ data and financial information by complying with legal requirements and employing the latest encryption technologies, blockchain, biometric or two-factor authentication, or data obfuscation.

• Biometric authentication: this way of logging in is extremely popular today. As stated in research by Visa, today 72% of Americans use fingerprint authentication, while 67% use fingerprints for making payments.  

• User-friendly interface: friendly and simple UI/UX creates an intuitive experience for the users.

• Payment gateway integration: Many FinTech apps are easily integrated with such payment services as Zelle, Paypal, or bank APIs so that users can easily make payments.

• Easy onboarding: do you know the most popular reason why fintech apps lose their users after the app’s download? It’s a difficult and long onboarding process. So, each business needs to make sure that this process is streamlined and smooth.

• Reward system: users can become the biggest marketers and promoters if the app includes a nice reward system. Just imagine, Robinhood attracted over a million users before the app even launched, thanks to their email referral campaign. So, do not underestimate employing referral bonuses, freebies, or gamification.  

• Multi-tier functionality: Employing multi-tier functions will help run the app smoothly and ensure efficiency during different simultaneous sessions.

• Machine learning & Smart bots: artificial intelligence has become an inevitable part of fintech apps. Such big names like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and others have already been using AI-powered chatbots to provide their customers with a highly personalized experience, thus bettering customer retention.

• Data analytics: the main reason why users opt for the fintech app is to analyze financial data. So, it is important to choose the best analytics integrations and plugins so that users can easily create custom reports and see the state of their finances.      

Explore the ML and AI solutions in Fintech.

Data Protection of Your Fintech App

Safety is the most crucial part of the creation of a fintech app. Here are some of the aspects that businesses should implement to ensure its strength:

Two-factor authentication

First, we recommend going beyond the simple authentication method of using username and password only and opting for two-factor authentication (2FA) instead. Among the most popular methods of 2FA is logging in with the help of a one-time code via SMS/email or push notification.  

PCI compliance

All the fintech apps that deal with card payments should be PCI DSS standard compliant. Of course, this compliance is quite a long and hard process that requires qualified developers who are aware of various nuances in financial security and anti-fraud measures.

Tokenization

Tokenization is one of the safest ways of storing and transferring users’ sensitive data. It looks like this: All sensitive data, such as a user's credit card number, gets replaced with random numbers. These numbers or symbols are called tokens. Token vaults, which are a sort of database, store all the tokens.These token vaults store the original data and generated tokens so that only users can decrypt the information.

Moreover, tokens are temporary so that no one can track sensitive data through transactions. Such types of data security measures as tokenization can also be used in NFC payments, online transactions, or gift cards.

Find out more about non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their development process with Agilie’s team.

3D secure 

3D secure or 3D is an extra layer of authentication created by Visa back in 2001. The three-domain model aims to prevent any potential cyber threats connected to credit cards, such as fraud, theft, and data breaches. The 3D secure process verifies the user's identity before authorizing any payment. It helps to protect a card from unauthorized use.

End-to-end encryption

The Fintech industry has privacy standards for user data protection. Data encryption is one of those standards that protects sensitive data from leaks, tampering, and eavesdropping. 

End-to-end encryption or simply E2E is used for the encryption of such user’s data as name, address, financial data (such as credit card number or payment history), social security number as well as any other data that a user provides for using the app.

Activity logging & payment blocking

Every fintech app needs to monitor user’s activities and stop suspicious ones. Among the activities that need recording are: transactions, user ID, IP address, geolocation, device data, or any other crucial information. 

The logs should be accessible for analysis and incident reports (including such info as timeline, incident details, and root cause analysis).

It is also paramount to be able to stop breaches with the help of payment blocking. Payment blocking allows the stopping of any transactions that the system recognizes as suspicious. 

We can rate all the transactions as low, medium, or highly risky. And, in case of high-risk transactions, the system will automatically reduce them and alert on the necessity of inspecting such log actions.

Hardware security model

A hardware security model or HSM is the most secure way to prevent any risks of fraud. Besides, this data encryption method is a mandatory requirement for PCI compliance. It is used to encrypt the card data so that it minimizes the impact of any fraud or threats. 

This data encryption is device-based, meaning it uses cryptographic hardware to protect sensitive data. The hardware security model automatically generates and stores the keys that are associated with digital certificates that are used for encryption and decryption processes. 

Tech Stack to Use in Fintech App Development

Now that, know the features of the great fintech app, let’s clarify which tech stack to use for developing such an application, both frontend and backend. 

Sure, the exact tech stack of an app highly depends on the customer requirements, the app's specifics, the market situation, etc. Here is the tech stack Agilie’s dev team most likely to apply when delivering fintech apps.

Backend development

Historically, a typical tech stack for fintech apps has been Java and .net. One of its benefits is extensive use and a wide range of libraries, which let us integrate various features provided by the leading fintech providers. Still, the speed and difficulty of deployment, staff cost, and competency count among the weaknesses of the aforementioned stack.

The Node.js environment can be attributed to modern technologies, which are already not inferior in terms of integration capabilities but benefit from a huge community and ease of support and deployment.

• Core tools: JavaScript, TypeScript, Ruby on Rails, NestJS

• Services: RabbitMQ, Kafka, Elasticsearch, Auth0

• Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis

• Cloud solutions: Firebase, Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean

Cross-platform development

For cross-platform development, it is better to use one of the following frameworks: React Native, Native Script, or Ionic.

iOS

• Language: Swift, Objective-C

• Tech stack: CocoaTouch, iOS SDK

• Analytics services: Facebook, Firebase, AppsFlyer

• Work with databases: CryptoSwift, Realm, CoreData

Android

• Language: Kotlin, Java

• Tech stack: Android Jetpack, Android SDK

• Analytics services: Facebook, Firebase, Amplitude

• Work with databases: SQLite. Room, Realm

Agilie has the leading-age knowledge and skill in producing advanced software. Learn more about our Fintech software development services.

How Much it Costs to Build a Fintech App (and How Long it Takes)

Building a fintech app depends on the budget. The cost of fintech app development varies greatly. Among the factors that may influence the final price of the product is the location of your development team, the app’s functionality, and the number of changes needed. 

Here, we have illustrated the average price tag according to the size of the project and the app’s functionality. 

• Small: $50,000 -$100,000 - single platform app that has an easy interface and basic functionality (and it will take 1–2 quarters)

• Medium: $100,000 - $250,000 - a complex app with extra features and the latest tech stack (up to a year of teamwork)

• Large: from $250,000 - a complex app with great functionality (long-term project)

Before the development phase, every business owner has to find answers to such questions:

• Do you need a feature-rich fintech app?

• What platforms are you going to use?

• Are you looking for a web application or back-end API?

• Do you want to be HIPAA-compliant and need bank-level encryption methods?

• Do you need any integrations?

• Do you need additional functionality like machine learning, AI, etc?

• What signup methods will you use? 

• Do you need post-production support?

The answers to these questions will help to understand how much money clients will need for fintech app development.

8 Steps to Building a Successful Fintech App in 2024

Step 1: Ideation

The first step of any product development is ideation. During this step, clients need to come up with their product’s concept and describe it in detail. Then the development team and the client create a step-by-step plan to ensure the whole development process is well-organized and structured.

Step 2: Conduct marketing research & product discovery

The discovery phase is a stage when the work on product development begins. Study the market and the existing fintech applications to find out all the pros and cons of the apps on the market so that we can make a better product. 

Get an ultimate guide on the project discovery phase and learn all the nuances of this step.

The product discovery will also help understand whether the fintech app is worth creating. Usually, this process consists of the following stages:

• Study the users’ demands

• Create a picture of your users

• Get to know what users say and what issues they have

• Create a visual mapping to get a complete picture

• Gather users’ feedback

• Try to understand whether this product solves users’ issues while remaining objective

• Validate the theories

Step 3: UX design

The next stage is creating UX design, which includes such steps as prototyping, creating product logic, and smooth navigation. Conducting UX design well is a cornerstone of an awesome user experience.  

Step 4: Testing

The next move is to test everything out. At this stage, the customer will understand if we applied the right product logic and if users find it clear where everything is located. The testing results will show if we need to change anything. 

Step 5: UI design

UI design makes the product stand out from competitors. Of course, if it is visually appealing. That is why the crucial goal of a UI designer is to build an interface that is both easy to navigate and pleasant to use. All the visual elements used in product creation, like images, footers, menu bars, and others, impact user engagement. That is why they should be selected carefully.

Step 6: Convert the design into a product

The step brings the design to life. Usually, the fintech app development cycle consists of several stages:

• Creation of the tech documentation: During this stage, the team creates all the technical documentation and selects the tech stack. The client should also decide on the functionality of the app (these are requirements for the admin panel), and user roles, and estimate the future scope of work.

• App development process: Now the mobile app developers start working on the code for the app using all the tech documentation they got during the previous step. 

• Testing: When the coding is complete, it is time for QA specialists to take over. The code must be tested manually so that the client knows that everything works correctly. 

• Deployment: After the testing, the team should be working on the production development plus integration. During this stage, the product undergoes beta testing by users, after which the client receives user feedback and a list of issues encountered.

• Maintenance: The team needs to maintain the app once it is deployed in the production environment.

Step 7: Get and analyze your feedback

Collecting feedback about the fintech app is essential as it helps to find out whether the product needs improvement. And the best way to do it is by taking a small survey. This survey should include such questions as: 

• Is an app comfortable to use?

• Did you face any issues while using an app?

• Does this app satisfy your needs?

• What do you want to improve?

• Does this app meet your expectations?

Step 8: Make changes and develop

Is developing the Fintech app the final stage? After the product is released, the work doesn’t end. It's quite the opposite. After getting users’ opinions on it, you have to continue improving it. And that is an endless process. 

Wrapping Up

Developing a fintech app is quite a challenge. However, the path to success is not difficult and can even be pleasant with a devoted and experienced team. Here are some of our useful insights that will help make this process better:

1. Before developing a product, you have to conduct thorough research on everything.

2. If you don’t have a reliable development team, you have to find one with solid fintech development skills. You will need a full team that consists of such specialists as a Business Analyst, Project Manager, UX/UI Designer, Front- and Back-End Developers, QA Engineer, and DevOps.

3. Start with MVP to test your ideas out, and only then add some extra functionality.

4. Hear your users. This way, you will be able to create a product that will meet all their requirements.

5. Employ modern and latest tech stack for easy development and analysis processes.

Contact us to make your fintech dream come true with Agilie!

Conclusion

The fintech mobile app development space in 2024 is both challenging and exciting. Nowadays, a huge wave of demand from fintech techniques opens the door for those companies that are eager to participate in this vibrant market. We have introduced the notion of fintech to the detailed coverage of app development, security, regulations, and tech stack, and outlined the main aspects. Yet, the key to the successful development of user-oriented fintech solutions resting on the quality of the obtained insights is not just the knowledge.

Agilie, a professional developer with fintech app development experience, can help businesses go through this process. Our team tailors on mobile banking apps, digital wallets, and other fintech solutions. A partnership with an experienced developer such as Agilie could help to evade the complexities of app development and guarantee the app is ready for the market and steady to thrive in the competitive fintech ecosystem in 2024.