16 Best Practices for Fintech App Development

In software development, and in fintech especially, the demand for a new app is always “a lot, preferably for yesterday.” A client’s desire for speed is often at odds with your team’s need for availability and quality. When the pressure to launch is immense, cutting corners may seem like a quick fix, but it almost always compromises the final product.

This article provides a set of proven practices that are crucial for building a successful fintech app. These tried-and-tested insights will guide you through the unique challenges of the financial sector, ensuring you deliver a product that is not just on time, but also reliable and valuable to your users.

Team practices: the human element of fintech app development

In fintech, technology often steals the spotlight. But the truth is even the most polished fintech app, with the most advanced technology, will fall flat without the right team behind it. While the code and features get all the credit, the success or failure of any project comes down to the people building it.

What does it take to assemble a team that delivers, then? Let’s dive into the core practices that will help you do just that.

1. Build a small and cross-functional team

When starting work on a new fintech app, you need a group of people with different skills who can work together seamlessly. That said, keep the team small and cross-functional so that you have all the essential expertise in one place. It’s non-negotiable that a UX designer be a part of this group, working side-by-side with the developers. This close collaboration ensures that the user experience is a fundamental consideration from the first line of code, rather than an afterthought.

2. Adjust the team’s focus

It’s also useful to think of your fintech project in two phases: initially, the goal is a quick release, which means your team should have a strong frontend focus to build a functional minimum viable product (MVP) – the strategic cut-off of features that will provide a complete, valuable experience for the first release and kickstart the feedback loop. As the project matures, the focus of the work will naturally pivot to more complex functionalities, such as advanced algorithms and data management. At this point, you should adjust the team’s composition to focus more on backend development.

3. Understand the architecture

Behind every successful fintech project, there’s a central vision. And for that vision to come to fruition you need at least one person on the team who truly understands the product’s architecture. They help narrow down the scope to what is truly essential for the MVP. Instead of trying to build a perfect, fully-featured product from the start – a common pitfall – this person ensures the team focuses on getting the core product into users’ hands quickly, which protects your crucial time-to-market.

4. Keep your team motivated

The fast-paced nature of fintech development can be taxing. After an intense push to release a product, it’s normal for the team’s energy to plummet. This is why maintaining motivation is a continuous effort. As a leader, you should always have your team members’ well-being on your radar. This nudges them to grow and feel a sense of accomplishment without leading to burnout.

Scrum practices

Scrum practices

Scrum provides a solid foundation for any software development project. While the framework includes a vast array of practices, the following are the ones that, in my experience, proved most crucial in ensuring a smooth and successful project.

5. Define “Done” from day one

In Scrum, the Definition of Done (DoD) is your team’s shared promise of quality. It’s a set of agreed-upon criteria that a user story must meet to be considered complete. For fintech apps, this is a must – it ensures that what you’re building isn’t just code, but a tangible, testable feature.

Your team should agree on the DoD as early as possible. Start with a small, manageable set of rules and only mark a user story as “Done” when:

• the build passes continuous integration (CI),
• it’s deployed to an internal testing track,
• the new feature can be seen and tapped on a real device.

This approach prevents stories from getting stuck in a “mostly done” state. Instead, every completed task is verifiable and ready for a demo, which allows you to get rapid feedback from your stakeholders.

6. Keep sprints short

By using regular, short sprints, you provide stakeholders with a steady stream of progress to review. This frequent exposure is your most valuable feedback loop, as it prevents your team from investing months into a feature only to discover it needs a complete overhaul. Instead, you simply course-correct on the fly.

7. Release as soon as possible

While short sprints are crucial for getting feedback from stakeholders, releasing your app as early as possible takes this a step further. Getting a working product into the market – even if it’s an MVP with limited functionality – is the ultimate way to validate your ideas. The real-world usage and feedback from your first users will give you the clarity to know if you’re on the right track or if you need to pivot.

8. Prioritize your product backlog by a business value

When it comes to fintech development, a well-organized product backlog is essential. But one that’s prioritized is even better as it ensures you’re working on the right things at the right time. Without strong prioritization, your backlog can quickly balloon into a list of features that would take years to build, putting your time-to-market at risk.

When prioritizing, the most important criterion is business value – what will genuinely entice a user to download your app or make a purchase? This value doesn’t need to be a precise number; a relative ranking of features is often enough to show what to work on first. Of course, there are other factors to consider here, such as technical effort, urgency and dependencies. This, altogether, will help you define your MVP.

Other handy tips for developing your fintech app

Here are some additional practices and tips for fintech app development that, while sometimes overlooked, can make a huge difference in your project’s long-term success.

9. Apply CI/CD early

In fintech, every manual step in the development process is a potential point of failure. This is why you might want to put a Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline in place from the start. Think of it as an upfront investment that pays for itself immediately. The sooner you automate your processes (basic examples would be testing and deployment), the sooner you’ll see benefits in speed and efficiency that maximize your ROI.

This single step saves countless hours otherwise lost to manual errors and tedious configuration. Even if the app’s functionalities are constantly changing, an automated pipeline will still deliver value.

10. Avoid parallel tech backlogs

A separate technical debt backlog is a trap. It creates an “out of sight, out of mind” type of problem that rarely gets addressed, causing issues to pile up, which compromises the long-term health of your fintech product. Instead, all technical stories should live in the main product backlog alongside new features, competing for the same sprint capacity.

While it’s tempting to take shortcuts to meet a deadline, doing so without a plan can be a costly mistake. But if you do happen to take a shortcut, immediately add a story to the main backlog to address that technical debt after the first release. This prevents debt from building up, ensuring your project remains stable and scalable.

11. Define your hardware matrix

A great fintech app must work seamlessly for a wide range of users – and this means a wide range of devices. Defining a hardware matrix from day one is a simple yet effective way to deliver a stable and polished experience to every user, not just those with the newest devices. I would suggest the following mix:

• a low-end Android device,
• a current-generation flagship phone,
• an older iPhone model,
• and the smallest and largest screen sizes.

It’s not limited to mobile apps – the same principle applies to web development, where you should define a matrix of resolutions to test on.

The goal is to catch the most common bugs related to performance, layout and functionality by testing on a realistic mix of devices.

12. Test for real-world conditions

A test environment is a perfect world. Your users, however, live in the real one – full of slow networks, interruptions and different device settings. To ensure your fintech app is truly reliable, a good practice is to consistently test for real-world scenarios, including:

• Poor network conditions: How does the app handle a slow or dropped connection?
• Background / foreground cycles: Does the app resume flawlessly when a user switches between apps?
• Dark mode & font size: Is the UI readable and consistent in different display settings?
• Different locale text lengths: Does your design hold up when text is translated into a different language, which may be significantly longer or shorter?

By running these tests, you guarantee your app is both functional and reliable – and that’s crucial for building user trust.

13. Have a release-readiness checklist

Frustrated by last-minute app store rejections? Be proactive.

As the review process isn’t fully automated, a seemingly minor oversight can derail your entire release. During your backlog refinement, stay updated on Apple and Google policies. Not only that – create and maintain a release-readiness checklist for all the essential, often-overlooked non-code items – like content ratings, privacy strings and API usage declarations – that a reviewer might scrutinize.

Having a complete checklist and consistently updating it helps you avoid delays. Always build a buffer for the store review into your release schedule – it’s a critical step that can make or break your launch date.

14. Choose a single code base

Traditionally, developing a mobile app meant having two separate teams – one for iOS and one for Android – working on two different code bases. This doubled the time, cost and complexity of a project right from the start.

Today, there’s a smarter way. With a single-code-base solution like Flutter, your team can write one set of code that works on both platforms. This approach saves time and money while ensuring your app is consistent across devices. Always look for technologies that let you do more with less.

15. Watch out for feature flags

While feature flags are useful for A/B testing and controlled feature rollouts, when used too liberally, they can quickly become a problem.

Each new flag adds to the mental load of developers, making it harder to debug even simple issues. In a worst-case scenario, this can lead to unexpected and difficult-to-track bugs – for example, turning a flag off for one user group might inadvertently hide a feature for another.

The key is to treat feature flags as temporary tools, not permanent fixtures. Always have a plan to remove them from your codebase once a feature is fully released to prevent hard-to-track bugs and keep your code clean.

16. Prioritize non-functional requirements

During a rushed launch, an app’s core features often get all the attention, while its non-functional requirements (NFRs) are overlooked. This is a mistake. Ignoring qualities like security, scalability and compliance can lead to major problems later on, such as a product that can’t handle a sudden influx of users.

To manage NFRs effectively, you need to define them early and track them with clear metrics. Whether it’s setting performance goals or measuring uptime, having objective data will tell you if you’re on track.

Fintech app development:takeaways

At the end of the day, all these practices – from short sprints and early releases to prioritizing non-functional requirements and managing technical debt – boil down to a single critical principle: balance.

In financial software development, the key to success isn’t a matter of choosing speed over quality or a long list of features over a quick launch. It’s managing the tension between your project’s timeline and the substance of its content. By making conscious decisions for the long-term health of your project, you can launch a fintech app that’s built to last.

Software Mind helps teams find that balance. If you’re looking to build a fintech app that’s not just on time but also truly ready for the market, we’d love to help. Contact us and let’s discuss your project.

FAQ

How do I know what to include in my minimum viable product (MVP)?

Your fintech app’s MVP should provide the smallest set of features that offers a complete and valuable user experience. To define this, focus on business value – what will genuinely entice a user to download or use your app? Your product architect and business analyst can help narrow the scope to these essential features, ensuring you build what truly matters most.

Our team is already established. How do these practices apply to us?

These fintech development practices can be implemented incrementally on any team. Start by defining a clear Definition of Done (DoD) to improve quality. You can also implement a release-readiness checklist to avoid last-minute delays and begin actively managing technical debt by ensuring all technical stories are in the main product backlog. The assumption is that you already know the scope of your MVP. If that is still not confirmed, then this is the first priority.

How can I effectively manage client expectations when they want everything for “yesterday”?

To effectively manage client expectations, focus on providing a steady flow of tangible progress and transparency. Use short sprints and early releases to give stakeholders a continuous look at the app’s development. When clients see the working product and understand the value you’re delivering, it becomes much easier to build trust and manage their expectations.

What is the typical technology stack needed for fintech app development?

Typically, a fintech app should be available on Android and iOS platforms. Therefore, there are at least two possible ways – native and non-native. There are at least a few most popular non-native solutions: Xamarin, Flutter, React. The first one is getting more and more popular, due to comprehensive development from Google company.

How much time is needed to build a fintech app?

It is difficult to give an exact time; however, ideally, the skeleton of the app filling the major business need would probably take weeks to develop. From that point, building in increments is an advised practice. Those increments are usually edge cases, additional minor use cases and permission issues.

What are the fundamental features of a fintech app?

The really basic features that need to be in the app are registration, authentication and one that corresponds to the main business value. The first feature allows us to bring users onboard, the second enables us to check whether the person logging in is the who they claim to be and the last is what pulls users in. While the main business value may allow for anonymous users, it always evolves toward a specific user category.