What Features to Implement in a Banking App to Ensure Its Success?

Ensure Its Success? 

We live in a digital world where mobility is not an optional but fundamental part of a business. Mobile banking apps allow you to do nearly all transactions online anytime and anywhere. Clients don’t need to stand in line, bother with documents, or search for ATMs anymore. In this article, we covered all the key features that you need to consider in the course of FinTech mobile app development so that your product succeeds in the market. 

Who uses mobile banking and why?

According to Insider Intelligence research, mobile banking is used by 89% of people, appealing not only to millennials (97%) but also to generation Х (91%) and baby boomers (79%).

According to statistics, via mobile apps, users view their balances (90%), track recent transactions (79%), pay bills (59%), transfer funds (57%), and contact client support (20%). 

What are the things that mobile banking development can’t do without today? What features must be included so that FinTech apps are as user-friendly and popular as possible for the majority of clients?

Bank account management 

Apps enable users to manage their accounts via smartphones: activate bank cards, check balances, view payment histories, and more. Standard features can be supplemented by convenient solutions - for example, making it possible to create virtual money-boxes and view spending history by category. In such a way users can track whether they stay within the budget and adjust their expenses.

For example, Chime offers its users a tool enabling them to save money automatically thanks to the “save while spending” feature. When a client pays for goods in the app, the service rounds up the cost to the closest sum and transfers the difference to their savings account. 

Bank of the West and other American banks offer apps that now have a feature enabling you to quickly view your balance without signing in to your account. You can view the account balance and recent transactions, and transfer small amounts with one click.

Fraud alerts

According to the report on a data breach investigation conducted in 2020 by Verizon, 86% of all cyber crimes are committed in order to steal money, and fraudsters tend to attack mobile banking apps more often. Given this, developers must take care of the ultimate part of FinTech solutions - security.  

Apps must have a secure login feature - for example, multi-factor authentication. This identity verification process, usually consisting of several steps, should not only be secure but also convenient and not too time-consuming.

Today, mobile banking development companies are increasingly implementing biometric authentication to their solutions, which verifies a user based on their physical parameters: fingerprints, voice, face, and so on. Wells Fargo, a bank holding company, went a step further and implemented a technology based on scanning a unique pattern of eye blood vessels. Clients sign in to the app by looking into the phone camera. 

Some companies add a threat alert feature to their apps. The system monitors all operations and warns its users if any suspicious activities are detected. Such flexibility makes mobile banking apps more personalized and secure. 

QR code payments

Today, this black-and-white square is used everywhere: in retail, marketing, and so on. A QR code is an excellent way to receive payments without costly terminals and pay for goods without bank cards. It takes a few seconds to scan the code and confirm your payment with your data securely encrypted.

In the Netherlands, retailers print a QR code on every slip and bill or offer it to make online payments. Bancontact, the most popular payment card in Belgium, has a mobile wallet that can be used for QR payments both online and in stores. Buyers scan a QR code and are automatically redirected to the bank’s online environment. 

Check cashing

Check cashing is a convenient feature for depositing checks at a bank online. You only need to take a photo of the check via a banking app (for example, such a feature is provided by Bank of America). This technology eliminates security issues, as photos of checks are not stored on your phone.  

Peer-to-peer payments

In 2020, more than 70% of Americans made peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, which is a popular mobile banking feature.

Transferring money to someone else's account via third-party services is inconvenient - fees are charged, and such transactions aren’t always safe. P2P payments allow you to do this in a mobile app via a linked bank account or card.

How does it work? A user signs in a P2Р service, selects a person from their contact list, and enters the sum to transfer. The app requests the client’s identification number, and the bank monitors the funds transfer. The recipient can keep the money in their P2P accounts or transfer it to their bank accounts.

Invoice payments

This is a must-have feature for mobile banking apps, which can be extended by adding automated bill payments, notifications upon funds receipt, payment reminders, etc. 

Virtual assistants and chatbots

Improving the quality of customer service is a priority in any industry, not only in banking. To provide round-the-clock customer support, mobile apps are equipped with chatbots capable of answering simple questions. For example, Bank of America introduced Erica - a virtual voice assistant that provides account balance and spending history and performs other operations. 

ATM search feature

Introducing the ATM search feature into banking app development can become an additional benefit of mobile banking. While implementing popular features based on AI, P2P payments, and QR codes, don’t ignore simple but essential things your clients need.

ATM cardless cash withdrawals

Over the past year, users have become more interested in making contactless payments and withdrawing cash from ATMs without using their cards. 

The cardless cash withdrawal feature is implemented, for example, in BMO Harris Bank’s app - users scan a QR code at an ATM and get cash. Wells Fargo Bank presented a similar solution in its app but somewhat differently - clients enter their card data into a digital wallet to get access to their accounts. Users hold their phones over a symbol, and NFC technology reads the card information. Then, the users enter their PIN codes and withdraw money. 

Enhanced analytics

Every day, banks receive data arrays from payment processing and online banking services, mobile apps, and ATMs. Enhanced analytics help them process this information and use it as grounds for their business decisions. 

Specialists estimate what products or service packages they should provide to their clients and when, while developing marketing and sales strategies that bring profit. Analytics allows them to identify the clients who plan to buy a house, have more children, or make an investment so that they can offer such clients relevant solutions. 

Apps with built-in analytics can become new-generation financial advisors for clients. If banks add features for tracking expenses and shopping habits to their mobile apps, users will be able to better manage their budgets and plan expenses.

Virtual cards

A virtual card is an online card with the same characteristics as a standard one but without a physical medium. For making a payment, a combination of data, including the card number, holder name, expiration date, and verification code is generated. After a transaction has been completed, such a card can be deleted in order to secure it from fraud.

ConclusionIn the context of global digitalization, banks strive to be more creative and innovative. The development and improvement of mobile banking apps is one of the crucial steps towards this goal. Today, clients expect more from mobile banking, and that’s why companies should add new features to their products.