Table of content
According to Statista forecasts, by 2024, the number of online banking users worldwide is expected to surpass 2.6 billion. In other words, every third person will use online banking services regularly. It is an excellent chance for the banking institutions to make every effort to enlarge the number of clients and become more competitive in the target market.
It can meet all the needs of a modern client and allow to move some offline banking services to digital. In fact, everyone benefits from mobile banking solutions: while clients get an exceptional service within a few taps, banking institutions can optimize the workflow, automate diverse processes and, of course, increase their revenues.
Devox Software features years of experience in web development services for banking and has vast expertise in delivering first-class mobile applications at a reasonable cost.
In this article, our experts will share the main market insights in mobile banking, the basic and advanced features of this software, and the tech stack required to develop it. Finally, we’ll analyze how to create a bank app and how much it costs to launch it. Thus, you can make an informative decision for your upcoming project.
Mobile Banking App Development Trends in 2022-2023
With high demand and extreme competition within the target industry, mobile banking development trends today show fascinating ambition. No wonder it demonstrates steady growth potential and the continued drive for evolution. The key highlights of the banking app development market to keep in mind are as follows:
- According to Globe News Wire, by 2028, the global mobile payment market is expected to grow to an impressive $11.8 trillion, starting with only $1.54 trillion in 2020. Heavy investments drive more and more banking processes and useful features to be implemented in mobile banking solutions. Most of them are immediately caught by the app users.
- The recent study by Insider Intelligence’s Mobile Banking Competitive Edge uncovered that younger generations extensively use mobile banking. A massive 97% of millennials indicated that they use mobile banking, and up to 9 out of 10 Gen Xers and Baby Boomers mark the benefits of digital banking over the traditional model.
- In times of heavy competition in the banking and financial industry, the personalized experience added to your mobile app can be a true game changer. McKinsey & Company report found that personalization in mobile banking apps can help businesses to increase revenue growth by up to 15%.
Based on statistics learned from authoritative sources, Devox Software experts must also admit that the most notable trends for 2022-2025 in digital banking will be mainly based on the customer-centered approach, with a great focus on the needs of tech-savvy generations.
Key Features & Examples of Mobile Banking Apps
24/7 Acces
Most banking services, as well as the personal account itself, can be accessed anytime and anywhere. This can not only benefit the client service but also optimize the workflow of the banking institution. Clients no longer need to visit the bank branches to check their account or transfer costs – you can easily do it from the comfort of your couch.
Needless to say, this feature is fundamental for any banking application today, including PayPal, Axos Bank, BNY Mellon, and many more.
Efficient Cost Management
Some banks, such as the U.S. Bank, also offer money-saving opportunities or updates about overdrawn risks. Varo, a challenger bank with a federal bank charter, provided automated saving tools, while third-party service ApexEdge, enables customers to negotiate lower payments on bills.
With all these tools featured, the app users can always get insights on how to efficiently manage their money spending.
Paying IOUs
After logging into your mobile banking app, clients can easily conduct different sorts of money transfers between the accounts rather than paying people with cash or a check. For instance, at Zelle and PayPal, you only need to know the recipients’ email addresses or phone numbers to transfer the funds.
Improved Account Security
Most mobile devices, as well as banking apps, allow leveraging biometrics for authentication. So, the mobile banking app lets you log in after scanning your face or fingerprint, which is extremely convenient and secure.
Also, more and more financial institutions suggest setting at least two kinds of verification to prove the client’s identity before the account can be accessed. Such practice became common for the crypto wallets of the platforms like Binance and CoinList. It has already been taken by PayPal, Wise and Revolut.
Basic and Advanced Functionality of Banking Applications
The true value of any banking app is estimated by its key features, so don’t overestimate this while planning to develop a mobile banking app for your business.
Authentication and Authorization
One of the most popular trends of app security that is sure to stay for a long-term perspective is multi-factor authentication and authorization. The MFA ensures a secure sign-in option, while the authorization feature verifies the users do what they’re allowed to do.
Both features are essential in the banking industry for the successful KYC checkup (Know Your Customer) – the mandatory process of identifying and verifying the client’s identity when opening an account and periodically over time.
For example, such an option is available on PayPal. The users can set the MFA within just a few clicks in the personal account settings.
Account Management
Ensure your users can perform the standard list of actions while using your mobile banking app. This includes card management, bank balance review, history tracking, habits analysis, and more.
Don’t be afraid to implement advanced banking solutions such as virtual cards, contactless payments, expense trackers, cashback services, investing plans, and regular payments, as they can significantly add to your software competitiveness.
A great example, in this case, is Betterment, a mobile banking software packed with nearly all the listed features for easy investments, savings, and spending.
Client Support
No one is immune from experiencing issues with app use or various system errors, especially in the banking industry. So, adding a client support option is the key feature in both traditional banking apps and neobanks.
Today, nearly all mobile banking apps feature 24/7 client support provided through live chats, calls, emails, and even messengers. Some of the providers also use AI chatbots, which allow them to provide immediate assistance in the most common questions and reduce the workload on your support center.
Such feature is introduced in hundreds of mobile banking apps already, including Ally Bank, Discover Bank, Axos Bank and more.
Push Notifications
A must-have feature for any application within nearly any industry. It enables keeping your clients updated on the go. With just a few taps, clients can discover the most recent transactions made, policy changes, new features added, and other information.
However, push wisely and do not overuse it, as your notifications can get lost in “data noise” and turn the clients away from using your app. Ideally, ask your users to specify what notifications they’d like to receive and provide the customization so that these settings can be changed anytime.
For instance, Axis Bank has launched targeted web notifications based on specific browsing behavior to define the users with the highest interest in the promoted services.
Cardless ATM Access
The ability to withdraw funds through app confirmation on your smartphone is another great feature that has been widely used in most EU countries. It eliminates the need to take a credit card by hand and allows 24/7 access to cash funds when needed.
This feature is also widely used across mobile banking, the examples of which can now be reviewed in the apps from Chase Bank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and many others.
Voice-Activated Virtual Assistants
Banking app development can also leverage the power of AI to upgrade client service with voice-activated virtual assistants. This innovation can simplify the interaction between customers and banking institutions, especially in routine inquiries, banking transactions and various tasks that don’t require real human assistance.
You can find and test such virtual assistants at Capital One, U.S. Bank, Bank of America, and others.
QR Code Payments
After conquering the Asian market, QR technologies gradually take root in the West. In brief, this technology allows for conducting contactless transactions, which are similarly fast and secure compared to the traditional payment model.
One of the most popular apps with a well-developed QR code payments feature is China’s banks, such as ICBC, Bank of China, HSBC, and others.
Mobile Banking App Development Stages
To get a better idea of how to create a mobile banking app, below we have outlined a step-by-step description of the software delivery stages and the key processes performed on each.
Research Phase, Estimation & UX/UI Design
The primary stage of building a banking app is in which client and software vendors identify the key project objectives and expectations. Developers conduct deep market research, identifying the audience pains to resolve with the banking software. Also, experts point out our requirements and standards for the target software, such as APRA, GDPR, PCI DSS, and others.
Based on the information given, they select the most relevant banking app features and make the first drafts of your product’s UI/UX concepts.
Mobile App Development
At this stage, engineers use the chosen technology stack to build a banking app’s front-end and back-end, covering all the previously outlined key features. Ideally, the critical functionality must be deployed in the current stage to reduce the development time and costs.
QA Testing & App Launch
Once the design patterns for banking application are finalized, developers need to test them to identify the flaws and bugs that hit the app’s performance and usability. The testing phase is a must-have process that makes your banking product perfect and ready for the official release.
Tech Documentation Outline
After adding the finishing touches to the app, the development team ensures it meets the existing banking application requirements and creates a single document that covers all the information and instructions for your banking solution. Further, experts can use it to implement the changes and improvements to the app product.
Security in Mobile Banking
For any banking software, security must always come first, as it ensures the privacy of client data and the reliability of banking services. Security must be your main priority when considering iOS or Android banking app development. It’s essential to provide a high-end user experience and excellent efficiency, but it’s even more critical for the software to ensure the security of the client data.
The security of customer transactions, personal information, etc., is essential not only in terms of reputation. It also impacts the legality of your business, as well as the local regulatory compliance. Here are some features that can contribute to robust app security:
- Disable primitive passwords. Only allow sophisticated passwords that feature specific requirements. You can also implement reminders to change the user password after a set period to prevent any risks of data compromise and loss of significant amounts of funds in client accounts.
- Apply two-factor authentication. A common practice across various industries that implies requesting an add-on verification through email, SMS, or a call. Whether your client wants to log in, make a payment, or do any other banking-related action, double-factor authentication ensures the client’s funds are accessed by its owner.
- Implement data encryption. To reduce the risks of data compromise, it’s recommended to store only the necessary data. However, to ensure it cannot be compromised and stolen, consider implementing tokenization – a widely used fintech process in which sensitive data is replaced with non-sensitive placeholder symbols called tokens. Its vast integration into cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology is mainly known.
- Track the activity logs. Tracking the user’s IP address, geolocation, in-app events, and device data can help to quickly identify an incident or security breach and its causes. It is also beneficial to learn the details of each case and identify the possible ways to prevent those in the future.
- Develop payment blocking. Another proven approach to secure clients from fraud is to develop a system that can automatically block suspicious payments. While it can cause some clients who are wrongfully flagged as suspicious to become frustrated, it also adds more confidence to the security of your service. After all, you can implement the ways to unlock those transactions through the password or two-factor authentication, as an example.
These are some of the most common security precautions to implement once you decide to develop a mobile banking app. Nevertheless, with the growing number of cyber incidents and hacking attacks, it’s essential to always search for improvement opportunities to ensure high-end security for your clients and the business itself.
Tech Stack for Banking App Development
When developing any custom software within the financial industry, it’s critical to apply first-class technologies that can guarantee the app’s security, stability, and efficiency.
For most banking web application projects, developers can use the following tech solutions:
- iOS development: Swift, XCode, iOS SDK
- Android development: Java, Kotlin, Android Studio, SDK
- Cross-platform development: React Native, Flutter, Xamarin
- Hybrid development (web and mobile app): HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, PhoneGap
- Back-end development: Java, Kotlin, Python, C ++, C#, Ruby
- UX/UI design: Figma, Sketch, Principle
It’s worth saying that the full list of tech stacks can be modified or complemented depending on the project’s functionality and development specifics. Also, Devox Software experts recommend consulting with development experts to define the most efficient tech stack options for your software.
If you are looking for a reliable software development service provided, consider contacting Devox Software. Review our extensive portfolio to learn more about our expertise paying particular attention to the case describing how we developed Function4, a financial service events platform. The main business challenge during this project was to create a solution that would be attractive to major financial institutions.
As a result, Devox Software developed an ultimate system allowing firms in financial services to measure the performance of their event and analyze data-powered insights. Thus, you can contact us if you want to leverage our profound expertise in software development and deep understanding of the financial sector.
Best Features of Banking Apps & Where They’re Used
We’ve covered the basic and advanced functionality of a banking app for mobile. Let’s now review some of the real-case examples of the apps with innovative banking solutions that helped gain client loyalty, as well as competitiveness in the market.
- Cardless ATM Withdrawal – Revolut, BMO Harris Bank Mobile Cash, Bank of America
- Voice-Activated Virtual Assistants – Bank of America Erica, Capital One Eno, U.S. Bank
- Advanced Account Insights – Revolut, Marcus, Varo Bank
- Automated Savings Tools – Ally Bank, Varo Bank, Chime
- Intelligent Chatbots – HDFC Bank, American Express, Commonwealth Bank Australia
- QR Code Payments – Venmo, PayPal, Revolut
These are only a few of the features that have provided vast popularity to mobile banking providers. Nevertheless, staying proactive in this area is critical. Your company should always searching for ways to upgrade the app functionality to provide the best client experience.
How Much Does It Cost to Make a Mobile Banking App?
The overall cost required for developing a mobile banking application depends on many factors, mostly related to the project’s and software vendor’s requirements.
In general, those include:
- The target platform (iOS, Android, cross-platform, or hybrid solution development)
- The number of features and their complexity
- The chosen tech stack, number of developers involved, etc
- The company’s web development rates
Below you’ll find the average cost and delivery time for mobile banking app development services at Devox Software, depending on the project type and processes performed.
Therefore, the average price for developing a basic MVP banking solution can vary from 27950 USD to 37300 USD. The price for a full-fledged custom product development with advanced functions and top-notch features covered, such as chatbot, virtual assistant, budget management and more, starts at 61400 USD. However, if you want a more accurate cost estimation for your mobile banking app project, feel free to reach out to the Devox Software team!
Develop a Top-Notch Online Banking Solution with Devox Software
As you can see, launching a mobile banking app requires deep knowledge in the development process and high proactivity in the solutions implemented. With the key focus on the younger generations, it’s essential to continually improve the app features and services to meet the client’s changing needs and enhance your product’s competitiveness in the market.
When developing a mobile banking app, it’s always better to get expert assistance to ensure the success of your software. With the world-class engineers from Devox Software, you are sure to get a functional, cutting-edge banking solution that fully meets your business objectives and requirements, yet ideally fits the client’s needs.
With years of experience in custom web application development, Devox Software is ready to meet even the most challenging projects and deliver a competitive app product across various industries.
Got a project or partnership in mind? Contact our experts and discover how to launch the best application that benefits your business right away!
