{"id":878,"date":"2022-10-12T07:43:18","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T07:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oqtacore-blog-473533498.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com\/?p=878"},"modified":"2022-12-19T10:07:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T10:07:29","slug":"ux-design-for-open-banking-and-fintech-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oqtacore.com\/blog\/ux-design-for-open-banking-and-fintech-app\/","title":{"rendered":"UX Design for Open Banking and Fintech app: Features and Trends 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FinTech industry is actively embracing Open Banking, a practice where banks enable their clients to use and control their financial data through third-party apps from other financial institutions and tech companies. In this way, you can create digital products that combine the functions of several financial services in one app. Such combinations could be online banking and managing your personal finances, like in <\/span>Chime<\/span><\/a>, financial analytics and rental housing, like in <\/span>Canopy<\/span><\/a>, or all these services in a super app, like Alipay.<\/span><\/p>\n

Statistics show that the idea of Open Banking is clearly taking root. By 2026, 75% of Europe’s population will be using Open Banking; the global Open Banking market is expected to hit $116 billion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the question of how to combine different financial services under the hood in a way that is convenient for the user still remains open. You’ll get the answer to this and other questions in this article by OQTACORE. Today we will discuss in detail the features of UX design for Open Banking and other fintech products.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Quick Revision: How does Open Banking work?<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

Universal access is opened through an open API (application programming interface). An API is a type of software interface that connects different computers or programs to enable them to share information.<\/span><\/p>\n

An API does not work standalone. For data from a bank to be accessed by another bank or insurance company, the user must give their consent. In the online bank’s app, the “I Agree” checkboxes are a valid and convenient way of obtaining this consent.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are three parties in the Open Banking system:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. The bank or other financial institution that gives access to customer data;\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. A fintech company that uses open data and provides its digital services to the client of the financial institution;<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. The client of the financial institution.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The first and second parties interact through an open API. Creating and designing APIs is a topic for another day. Today we are going to talk specifically about the interaction of the bank and fintech company with the client. This interaction is exactly what happens using a regular user interface.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The main advantage of Open Banking for the client is that they can use different financial systems in one place, i.e., literally in one app on a smartphone or computer. However, it is important to properly implement. Having many different functions in a single app makes the user interface more complicated. So, it\u2019s important to design the Open Banking app such that the user could feel comfortable using it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span>How to design Open Banking\u2014a guide from OQTACORE<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

    Before learning about UX design features for Open Banking, we recommend that you read our <\/span><\/i>previous article<\/span><\/i><\/a>. There, we explained in detail what UX Design is, what its methods are and how they are applied in today’s business.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    The main objective of UX design in creating a banking app is to make a complex multi-page product user-friendly and accessible. According to <\/span>McKinsey<\/span><\/a>, UX accessibility is a major problem for traditional banks who are trying to digitize their services but use outdated technology and don\u2019t pay adequate attention to UX design. New Fintech companies run the risk of creating complex products. This particularly concerns those companies that want to combine several financial services, like super app Mint.<\/span><\/p>\n

    To avoid these issues, our UX designers and researchers recommend\u00a0 Fintech teams to apply the following UX techniques rigorously:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Creating a User Flow diagram. <\/b>For those who understand UX design, the fact that we specified this method in the beginning may seem strange, because a user flow is usually used in the later stages of design. But it makes sense enough: since Open Banking is a complex product, user flow, i.e. visualizing the sequence of user\u2019s actions, will help your team think through scenarios in advance for how to interact with each service in your app. For example, if your Open Banking app has both a connection to another bank’s account and an investment function, user flow will help you think through both ways, for example<\/span>:<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Select authentication method \u2192 confirm \u2192 select bank \u2192 bank authentication \u2192 path passed<\/span><\/p>\n

      \"\"In the second case: create investment account \u2192 confirm account creation \u2192 select company to invest in \u2192 buy shares \u2192 confirm purchase \u2192 path passed<\/p>\n

      \"Create<\/p>\n

      Most importantly, don’t be shy to propose different scenarios. User flow is not the final design stage. The following methods will fix it and flow will match how the user wants to interact with your product.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. User Personas and Empathy Map.<\/b> Conduct interviews with potential customers and compile their profiles. This way you’ll understand who they are and, most importantly, find out their motivation\u2014why and how your customers want to complete scenarios in your product. Demographics, social standing, and other data influence your customer’s behavior. Imagine that a customer remotely takes out a loan to buy the latest smartphone model, and another customer buys stock in a startup. The first wants to buy a smartphone as quickly as possible because he is certain about the purchase, while the other needs time to assess the risks and understand whether it\u2019s worth the investment. In such a situation, their paths through the scenarios will be very different. By understanding the emotional and rational sides of user motivation, you will begin to empathize with the user and can better adjust your user flow.<\/span>
        \n<\/span><\/li>\n
      2. Information architecture and Wireframe creation. <\/b>Once you’ve analyzed the emotional side of customer behavior, identified your service pain points, and fixed user flow, move on to composing your information architecture and wireframe. This way you’ll put together the structure of your product so that you can visualize it and all the content. We recommend doing a card sort before compiling the information architecture. This will once again confirm your guesses about how the product should be structured. Once you have visualized the pages in wireframe, you can create a complete prototype.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        What else should you pay attention to when designing for Open Banking?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n