How to Build a Fintech App: Key Steps

Financial technology, known as fintech, is a rapidly growing industry disrupting traditional financial services. Fintech has enabled the development of innovative financial products and services that are more efficient, convenient, and accessible than traditional financial services. The fintech industry is projected to continue its growth trajectory, with global fintech revenues expected to grow to more than $200 billion in 2024.

One of the most significant trends in the fintech industry is application development. How to make a fintech app? Such applications offer a seamless and convenient way for users to manage their finances, invest, and make payments. Fintech apps have become essential for consumers and businesses, offering mobile banking, investing, budgeting, and peer-to-peer payment features. Since fintech app development can be puzzling for relative newcomers, the benefits are vast. This guide will walk you through the essential steps and answer the question of how to build a fintech app. Let’s dive in.

​Steps to building a fintech app

Before reviewing the crucial steps that form the fintech mobile app development, it’s also essential to check the types of solutions developed by fintech companies. Some may wonder – what is a fintech application, and how to release it to the market? Currently, the most common app types include digital banking, payment, investment and trading, digital wallets, insurance, and financial management solutions. With such a comprehensive variety of solutions, the development framework stays pretty much the same. In particular, each application has to include a dashboard, payment gateway, security, and other relevant features based on the app type. Still, the development framework consists of the following steps:

1. Research and planning
2. Determining your app’s features 
3. Tech stack selection
4. Design and development
5. Launch and maintenance

Let’s review each step and highlight the specific details relevant to financial organizations.

Research and planning. Before you start developing your fintech app, conducting thorough research and planning is essential. This stage will help you define your app’s features, target audience, and technology stack.

It’s also important to conduct market research. The first step to developing a successful fintech app is understanding your target market. You should conduct market research to identify user needs, preferences, and pain points. Your research should include analyzing your competitors and identifying gaps in the market that your app can fill.

Define your app’s features and functionalities. Once you’ve identified your target market’s needs, you can define your app’s features and functionalities. You can use your market research data to create a list of must-have features and additional features that would add value to your product. Also, when companies ask: “How much does it cost to launch a fintech app?” the cost varies depending on the core functionalities. Some possible app functionalities can include features such as mobile banking, investing, budgeting, and peer-to-peer payments.

Choose the right technology stack. Sticking to a particular tech stack is crucial to developing a robust and scalable fintech app. The technology stack comprises the programming languages, frameworks, and tools that you’ll use to build your app. Your choice of technology stack should align with your app’s functionalities, scalability, and security requirements. For this purpose, you should consult a fintech technology expert to help you choose the right technologies for your app.

Determine a project plan and timeline. After outlining your app’s features and technology stack, you can develop a project plan and timeline. Your project plan should outline the tasks of each development stage, milestones, and deadlines. When creating your project plan, you should also consider resource allocation, team roles, and budgeting factors.

Design and software development. Both design and development are crucial phases of building a fintech app and thus should be treated accordingly. On the design side, your remote team working on a project must handle the wireframe and prototype creation, then develop the user interface and experience. Also, the design department has to ensure that the fintech app is intuitive, easy to navigate, and visually appealing. When it comes to the development stage, your partner has to:

• Set up the development environment;
• Build the core functionalities based on the app’s features and the identified tech stack;
• Implement security measures;
• Ensure compliance with crucial fintech regulations;
• Test the application to make sure it’s error-free and ready to release.

Launch and maintenance. Finally, once this project stage is ready, the team can proceed with the launch and maintenance stages. During this process, monitoring the app’s performance and gathering user feedback from the intended audiences is vital. Companies should consider rolling out new features for advanced applications to keep up with the market demands and emerging trends. On top of that, your tech vendor should follow the industry trends to ensure that your app’s security measures and compliance protocols are up to date to avoid potential regulatory issues.

Building a fintech app from scratch can challenge organizations looking to expand their operations in this booming market. While the design, development, and maintenance stages are comprehensive, the fundamental success path is to outline the business value of your application. In this sense, the first stage, which includes research and planning, is vital to reaching the intended results. 

Final remarks

Developing a fintech app can be a challenging but rewarding process. Fintech apps offer a seamless and convenient way for users to manage their finances, invest, and make payments. The benefits of creating a fintech app include access to a vast and diverse customer base and potential revenue streams. To develop a successful fintech app, you must follow a comprehensive development process that includes research and planning, design, development, launch, and maintenance. You should conduct market research to identify user needs, define your app’s features and functionalities, choose the right technology stack, and develop a project plan and timeline.

If you want to speed up the development process and launch the fintech app of your dreams, partnering with us will help you source top-notch experts in the fintech field based in Central & Eastern Europe or Latin America. We will provide a highly motivated and skilled team so your fintech app can be kicked off and delivered under the specified timeline and technical nuances. Contact us.