In this world, all of your financial transactions happen in the blink of an eye, investments are handled with a swipe, and loans are approved with a tap. This is all possible because of advances in financial technology, which is changing the way we handle our money. Hello, and welcome to the world of fintech!
The fintech (financial technology) business has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few decades. Every day, new platforms and apps are made. Statista says that there were almost 11,651 fintech startups in the US in May 2023, making it the country with the most. There were 5,061 in the Asia-Pacific region and 9,681 in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa).
As fintech companies grow quickly, so does the number of people who use mobile banking at a rate that has never been seen before. Statista says that the number of people in the US who use digital banking will rise from 197 million in 2021 to 217 million by 2025. Mobile banking makes things so easy for users that this number may go even higher than expected.
With an unprecedentedly large number of people joining the digital financial change, fintech cybersecurity needs to be improved right away.
Why is it important for businesses to protect their FinTech data online?
Hackers are always changing data that is easy to access and breaking security rules, so data breaches and cyberattacks are often in the news. Hackers like these can not only damage companies’ brand image and credibility in the market but also cost them millions of dollars if they are successful.
Equifax, an American multinational business that checks people’s credit, had one of the worst data breaches of the century, which cost them almost $4 billion in just a few days. The loss was much bigger than the money that would have been spent on strong protection. It turned out to be true because, two years after the breach, the company had to pay about $1.4 billion to fix the problems. This included changing the way IT infrastructure works and making apps and data safer. On the other hand, making a safe financial app only costs $50,000 to $200,000 (more on that later).
In 2022, there were also the following cases of cyberattacks on fintech companies:
The OP Financial Group is Finland’s largest financial company, with 180 cooperative banks and 2 million customers. They were attacked online by phishing emails that said they were from OP Group and asked people to click on a link to make the payment.
Hackers got into Qubit Finance, a decentralized website for lending and borrowing money, and stole cryptocurrency worth almost $80 million.
‘N4aughtysecTU’ hacked into TransUnion, a company that makes credit reports, and stole thousands of records. This group of hackers wanted $15 million in exchange for four terabytes of data that they had stolen.
So, what are your security measures to make sure you don’t get hacked and stay safe from these kinds of things? What are the best ways for you to make sure that your users’ financial platform is safe and follows all the rules?
There are a lot more people using mobile banking these days, so making a custom FinTech app with strong security features can be your best defense against these kinds of dangers. Now let’s look at how to make a safe banking app in the year 2023.
Talk to experts about how to make a safe fintech app for your business.
How to Make a Safe FinTech App?
In the fintech business, making a custom mobile app with strong security features has always been the best way to keep transactions safe.
Statista says that 43.5% of US consumers prefer to reach their accounts through mobile banking. This makes it the most common way to bank. Building a safe fintech app, on the other hand, is hard and takes a lot of time. You need to know about fintech security standards like PCI-DSS and GDPR and have experience with them.
The steps to make a fintech app are similar to those for making any other mobile app. However, it’s important to know the best practices for fintech protection to make sure your app stays successful. So, here is a step-by-step guide on how to make a safe banking app:
Define Your App’s Purpose
Deciding what your fintech app is for is the first thing you need to do when you want to make one. Figure out what kind of financial app you need. Do you need a solution for any other financial service, such as peer-to-peer lending, mobile banking, investment management, loan approval, or anything else? Being clear on the goal of your app will help you make the right kind of app that will meet the needs of your users.
Write down the features and functions.
Now, based on what your product is meant to do, list the main benefits and functions of your fintech app. No matter what your app is for, you should think about adding basic security features like user authentication, secure transactions, account management, personalized notifications, real-time data updates, and analytics. You should also make a plan for future growth.
Create an easy-to-use user interface
Any app needs an easy-to-use design to work, and fintech apps are no different. So, make an interface that is easy to use, looks good, and leads people through different functions. For a smooth UI/UX design, pay attention to ease of use, accessibility, security, and the flow of transactions.
Make the app, test it, and put it on the market.
It’s now time to start the creation process. To make a cutting-edge, safe, and reliable fintech app, use the right tech stack and follow agile methods. Once it’s finished being built, it needs to be thoroughly tested to find and fix any bugs or other problems before it goes on sale.
Examine, Keep an eye on, and Repeat
Your fintech app development method doesn’t end when it’s put into use. To make sure your fintech app stays successful, you need to keep an eye on its performance, feedback, user involvement, scalability, and security at all times. To improve the app’s performance based on market trends and user comments, you can use analytics tools to learn more about how people use it and keep up with security standards.
Cost of Making a Fintech Cybersecurity App
The cost of making a safe financial app depends on many things, like the platform(s) it will be used on, the type of app, its features and how hard it is to make, how secure it is, and where the fintech app development business is located.
Each of these things makes a big difference in how much it costs to make an app. Because of this, it is hard to give you an exact cost of fintech app creation without knowing more about your needs. As a rough guide, the cost of making a fintech app can range anywhere from $50,000 to $300,000 or more, based on the above factors.
So you know the basics of how to make a safe fintech app and how much it costs, let’s look at the best ways to protect your app from hacking and get an edge over your competitors.
How to Keep Your Fintech Business Safe Online
With the risk of data breaches and hacking rising all the time, it’s more important than ever to build proactive security measures into fintech apps. A small security breach in a fintech app can cost a lot of money, get you in trouble with the law, and hurt your image. So, if you want to make a secure financial app, you need to follow the best practices.
Best Practices for Making Fintech Apps
Follow the rules and standards for your industry.
A lot of rules apply to the fintech business. As a result, you need to learn about the regulatory standards to protect users’ info and make sure your website is secure. To build trust and make sure your app follows the rules, make sure it follows general rules like Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), PCI-DSS, and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Safely store data
To make a secure fintech solution, you need to add protection to every part of the application. Because of this, you need to think about what data to store, where to store it, who will be able to access your app, and other things when you’re making a financial cybersecurity app. Hackers won’t be able to get private information from your system if you keep your app’s structure simple and only store the most important data. One idea is to make a safe payment method that doesn’t ask for credit card numbers from customers. To make sure the data is correct, the process of restoring it must also be tested regularly.
Write safe code for apps
A fintech app’s most important part is its secure code. If your code has even the smallest holes, all of your work to make an app safe could be for nothing, putting your business at risk. So, the tech experts who put the code into action should think about how to properly log, validate, control, handle errors, authenticate users, use cryptography, and communicate securely.
Use secure APIs, encrypt data, and use two-factor authentication.
A lot of the fintech industry’s growth depends on how safe and expandable its financial solutions are. So, when you make a FinTech app, make sure it has strong security features like biometric identification, two-factor authentication, data encryption, and safe APIs.
Biometric Identification: The biometric technology makes the app even safer by only letting users with their unique biometric data, like fingerprints or face recognition, access the fintech solution.
Biometric technology for identification
Multiple-Factor Authentication: With multiple-factor authentication, users must show at least two kinds of identification to access the app. For example, before users can get into their accounts, they need to use a password and an OTP that is sent to their phone.
Encrypting Data: One of the best ways to keep banking information safe is to encrypt data. Add a strong data encryption feature to protect private user data while it’s being sent and while it’s being stored. This way, hackers won’t be able to get in and read the data without permission.
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs): APIs let fintech app security solutions talk to a wide range of third-party services. Because of this, your fintech cybersecurity plans need to cover the safety of these APIs to stop unauthorized access and possible data leaks.
Businesses can deal with the cybersecurity risks that come with fintech by adding these security solutions and features to their apps. This will also help create a safe and stable digital financial environment.
Find a reliable tech partner who has rules about cybersecurity
It’s very stressful to make a safe fintech app. It might be hard for your in-house team to follow the steps and best practices mentioned above. To make sure app development goes smoothly, you might want to work with a reputable fintech app development company that has all the necessary licenses and strict security standards to create safe fintech apps. It can be hard to find the right tech partner, but it will be worth it in the long run.
To find the right tech partner, you can do the things below:
When looking for a business, make sure they have a history of making good financial software and apps.
It is important to find out about their security measures, team, rules, and credentials.
Make sure the company follows the rules in your business and has important certifications such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, and PCI DSS.
It also has reviews, recommendations, and a portfolio of work from past clients that you can look at.
Now that we’ve talked about all the important parts of fintech cybersecurity, let’s take a look at some examples of financial apps that beat the competition with their top-notch security features.
Real-life examples of the best ways to use fintech
There are a lot of different kinds of fintech apps, and each one has its features and functions to meet the wants of different users. Here are some real-world apps that show the best examples of safety in fintech by running smoothly and giving users a great experience.
PayPal
PayPal is a well-known peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app that lets people buy things online, give and receive money, and keep track of their money. Thai fintech solution lets users connect their bank accounts, credit cards, and debit cards to the app so that transfers are safe and easy. PayPal is widely accepted and easy to use, making it a safe and easy way for people and companies to make payments. This ensures that transactions are safe and that you can relax.
Robinhood
Robinhood is one of the best stock trading apps in the fintech industry. It lets users buy and sell stocks, cryptocurrencies, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) safely. With two-factor authentication (2FA), device monitoring, and other security features, Robinhood is seen as a safe place for investors to put their money and stocks. This is one of the main reasons why the platform has more than 12.2 million monthly active users. Also, Robinhood is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) and has FDIC protection, which makes sure that fintech companies have strong security.
Mint
Mint is a complete personal finance app that helps people keep track of their money and spending. It syncs with users’ credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, and bills so that it can give them unique information that helps them make smart financial choices. The app’s easy-to-use design, strong security features, and best practices for leveraging IoT, AI, blockchain, and other fintech cybersecurity trends make it safe for its millions of users around the world, helping them keep track of their money.
Appic Softwares is a trusted tech partner that can help you make fintech apps.
These days, people who are good with technology prefer to handle their money online. This means that making safe fintech apps should be the main goal of fintech companies. But because fintech cybersecurity is always in the news, it’s not easy to come up with fintech security options. A trustworthy fintech app development business like Appic Softwares is needed to help you get through the complicated world of cybersecurity.
We have delivered more than 500 unique fintech solutions around the world with our team of more than 350 fintech experts. Based on your needs, our seasoned pros in the field can make high-quality, safe fintech apps from scratch.
For example, we made Mudra, a chatbot-based fintech app that changed the way millennials handle their budgets. Since it’s a budgeting app, it had to handle money information. So, we made the most of AI and followed best practices for fintech cybersecurity to make sure that security was built into every step of the project’s life cycle.
For a different client, Bajaj Finserv, we built a safe and reliable digital platform that helped them handle more than 300 new merchants and more than 3 lakh deals every day. We used advanced security techniques and walls to stop financial scams and keep private information safe when we built this online platform.
Our team of skilled fintech experts will help you feel safe as you start your journey into fintech protection and make your app idea come to life. Do you want to make a safe and reliable banking app? Call us right now.
FAQs
What is safety in the world of fintech?
In fintech, cybersecurity means building strong security measures and best practices into security solutions to keep users’ private information and money safe from hackers, data breaches, and other cyber risks. To protect data, it uses cutting-edge technologies like AI, big data, blockchain, and more.
Why is safety so important in fintech?
Cybersecurity for fintech is important to protect users’ information, financial data, and activities in the digital world. Its goal is to stop hackers and cybercriminals from getting into your fintech system without permission and performing their malicious efforts to change your digital infrastructure.
What are some of the most common cyber dangers in fintech?
You should be aware of the following common online threats:
Locky ransomware
Breach of data
Spam emails (phishing)
Breaking into
Threats from inside
Why is it important for fintech to have cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity in fintech protects against a wide range of new and changing online threats. It helps keep users’ private information and bank records safe from being stolen, hacked, or broken into by hackers. Cybercrime can cost a lot of money, get you in trouble with the law, and hurt your image.
Appic Softwares is a well-known and top Fintech app development co that affordable high-quality mobile apps for people all over the world. They can help you get better ideas and help you get started in the Fintech business if you want to.
