Statista predicts that the Digital Banks market will witness a significant growth in Net Interest Income, reaching US$2.19 trillion in 2024. This highlights the imperative for financial institutions to embrace digitalization and meet the evolving needs of their customers.
An effective digital banking platform has the potential to enhance customer loyalty, drive revenue growth, and streamline service costs for your company. Now, let’s explore the essential steps for successfully developing such a platform. Before initiating any development process, it’s crucial to ensure the legality of your operations by obtaining specific licenses like payment or e-money licenses, fintech licenses, MSB licenses, or by becoming an agent of a BaaS-provider.
What is a digital banking platform?
A digital banking platform enables customers to access and carry out banking activities through either a website or a mobile app. This encompasses tasks such as online account management, money transfers, bill payments, mobile banking, and additional financial functionalities.
Digital banking platforms are designed to deliver a seamless and user-friendly interface, empowering customers to perform banking tasks effortlessly via their computers or mobile devices.
Core features for building a digital banking platform
With the aid of digital trends, payment service providers have been able to enhance service offerings, though fintech software development and product enhancement face corresponding challenges. The following points out the primary features to prioritize in the development of a banking platform:
- Account management
- Fund transfers
- Bill payments
- Mobile banking
- Card management
- Advanced security features
- Integration options
- Customer support
Assessing the essential features of a digital banking solution brings into focus the paramount importance of prioritizing customer needs. Hence, leveraging a customer-centric development approach is crucial to set your banking solution apart.
In the subsequent sections, we’ll outline the necessary steps for developing a digital banking platform that meets the requirements of both users and businesses. Alternatively, you could explore the option of utilizing a ready-made digital core banking system like Macrobank by Advapay.
Step 1. Define clear objectives and requirements
The crux of delineating clear goals and requirements lies in conducting comprehensive market and consumer research to unveil the needs, preferences, behaviours, and motivations of potential customers. This pivotal phase equips you to maximize your solution’s revenue potential and economize time and resources by grasping specific product requirements and user values. Additionally, you can formulate project timelines and budgetary plans by leveraging documented requirements.
Step 2. Choose the right technology stack
The prerequisites of a digital banking product can wield considerable influence on the technology stack selected for its development.
Digital banking platform involves management of sensitive financial data, strict security measures are crucial, necessitating the integration of robust encryption protocols, secure APIs, and multi-factor authentication, all of which play a critical role in technology selection.
Deciding on a technology stack for digital banking software depends on project requirements, scalability, security, and adherence to regulatory standards.
Step 3. Differentiate with a customer-oriented approach
An effective customer-centric approach goes beyond surface-level aesthetics, focusing on usability, accessibility, and intuitive design. This results in software that boosts customer satisfaction and fosters loyalty. Core principles of customer-centric software development include:
- Flexibility: the digital banking platform flexibly responds to changing customer behaviours and needs.
- Scalability: the system delivers continual updates and incremental improvements.
- Engagement: banking software integrates customer insights throughout development stages.
Step 4. Guarantee security measures
Security is of utmost importance in the development of FinTech products, particularly with regard to safeguarding sensitive financial data. Incorporating advanced encryption protocols such as SSL/TLS is crucial to ensure secure communication between users and the banking platform. Additionally, regularly updating and monitoring the APIs utilized for integration is essential to mitigate potential vulnerabilities. Conducting regular security audits and penetration tests is imperative for identifying and resolving vulnerabilities. These ongoing assessments are essential for proactively addressing potential threats and maintaining continuous security.
Step 5. Regulatory compliance
Despite their pursuit of innovation, digital banks are obligated to comply with the same regulatory standards as traditional banks. Regulatory adherence is crucial for fortifying the industry against potential attacks and vulnerabilities. Financial institutions face three primary risks: Data privacy, Money laundering activities, and Cyberattacks.
To protect users from potential attacks and data breaches, financial institutions must adhere to the following regulations:
- PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) outlines security requirements for entities handling credit card data.
- PSD2 (Second Payment Services Directive) is an EU directive governing electronic payment services.
- GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) regulates the collection, utilization, and storage of personal data by companies operating within the European Union.
- AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations aim to prevent and counteract money laundering and terrorism financing.
- KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures, a subset of AML regulations, necessitate institutions to authenticate the identities of their customers.
Ensuring compliance with local laws is essential for the successful launch of digital banking platforms, as regulatory frameworks differ across various jurisdictions.
Step 6. Develop the platform
The development of software holds pivotal importance in the establishment of a digital bank, laying the groundwork upon which the entire digital banking ecosystem is built. It involves frontend, backend development, and the seamless integration of data. During this phase, the concrete framework of your product takes shape. As such, it is essential to oversee the development process under the direction of skilled professionals with deep expertise in the fintech sector. You can opt for either an internal development team or engage a software development team well-versed in the intricacies of the financial industry.
Step 7. Test and launch the platform
Thorough testing is essential not only for identifying and resolving issues but also for ensuring a seamless user experience and building trust in your digital banking solution. Employing various testing methods, including functional, security, and user acceptance tests, assesses the platform’s performance across different scenarios. While launching represents the final step of the development process, it does not mark the end of your obligations. Continuously monitoring performance, usage, and feedback through tools like analytics, surveys, and reviews is crucial. It’s equally important to promptly address any issues, complaints, or inquiries and provide ongoing support and guidance to your customers and users.
Step 8. Improve the application
The software launch is the starting point for an ongoing process of refining your financial platform. Prioritize continuous improvement for sustained success with these steps:
- Implement a user feedback mechanism
- Regularly update the system
- Optimize performance