FinTech technologies and apps make our daily life much more comfortable. The 21st century isn’t about long queues and visiting banks. It can be all done online and with your smartphone. And the COVID pandemic has forced the digitalization of nearly all spheres, including the banking sector.
Table of contents
Intro What is Revolut and why is it so popular? Reasons to build a banking app Top three things to pay attention to while building a banking app How much does it cost to make an app like Revolut Key takeaways
What is Revolut and why is it so popular?
Revolut is the most prominent example of a so-called neobank valued at $5.5bn. It has recently launched in the US and attracted millions of customers by simplifying traditional banking procedures.
Revolut was founded and launched in the UK with a simple but yet important mission - make banking operation as simple as possible. Revolut became the tool that practically solved the problem of high commissions in foreign currency exchange operations.
Source: Revolut for iTunes
Unlike convention banking apps, Revolut features an application and a multi-currency debit card, and zero commissions for most operations. The card simultaneously supports the pound, dollar, and euro. You can easily open a new account in 60 seconds online without visiting the bank office. Also, Revolut is an eco-friendly company with no paper trail.
Benefits of Revolut to take a look at 🔽
150 currencies with zero commissions
Money transfers in 29 currencies at the interbank rate
No commissions for withdrawals up to $200
Worldwide insurance at a low rate
Payments to share with your friends
Recurring payments
Full control over the card in the app
Advanced security standards
You may also be interested in How to build a banking app with Mova.io
Photo by Ales Nesetril / Unsplash Reasons to build a banking app
Online banking opens up new possibilities allowing us to do every transaction with just a few taps. A vast majority of people cannot imagine their everyday life without mobile banking apps. They save time and require less effort when compared with regular offline banking services.
Before we move to design and development issues, let’s find out what benefits a mobile banking app can bring:
Expand your market reach
A banking app can help you reach a wider audience and strengthen your brand presence. You can also try to reach pain points and offer a custom fintech solution meeting all your clients’ needs.
The following approach will help you build more loyal relationships with your customers. While making an app for a mobile-only bank, you don’t limit yourself to locations. You can provide banking services to customers from all over the world.
Get to know your customers
Information is vital for businesses of any kind and sphere. If you know your audience and their pain points, you can get on top of the world. When it comes to an online business, it’s even easier to know your customers.
Every customer action is recorded in the app and can be used for adjusting and developing marketing strategies. If your customers are interested in loan payments or deposits, you need to focus on developing particular programs aimed at solving most of your customers’ pain points.
Moreover, you can use collected data to analyze customers’ behavior and make business forecasts. The following data can help customize targeted campaigns and attract more users.
Сut corners
Mobile app development isn’t cheap, but in the long run, developing a banking app is worth the candles. It means that after you get a full-featured mobile banking app for Android or iOS, you can reduce or even remove running a banking office.
Here is what you can change when shifting towards a digital banking experience 🔽
Offline banking services
Online banking services
Lots of offices and branches to cover clients’ banking needs
A couple of offices to deal with big financial operations such as real estate, etc.
Human support. You need to hire extra employees and provide everything necessary for the work.
A chatbot can help with some minor banking issues. But you still need live support for solving complicated questions.
Lots of paperwork, including contracts, bills, and cheques.
All documents and bills are available in electronic versions. No need for printing and signing.
Attract more customers
When it comes to Gen Z, they are more likely to choose an online banking service. And that’s because online banking is convenient and it saves lots of time. Every payment, from grocery shopping to investing, can be done through the app.
Thus, if you have an easy-to-use banking app, your clients will use your banking services instead of cash and other banks with a more convenient app solution. The more users you get, the more commission you’ll earn.
Build a digital brand
Digital branding is essential for most of today’s businesses, and banks aren’t an exception. When people talk about your bank, it becomes well-known and trustworthy. Hence, it helps you attract more customers.
Today it’s quite hard to get attention to a new service since people ignore most of the ads and even block them without reading. However, developing a mobile app for your bank is an efficient way to make people use it and talk about it.
Photo by Zachary Nelson / Unsplash Top three things to pay attention to while building a banking app
Developing a banking app like Revolut requires not only money and time but also particular knowledge and skills. At Mova.io, we have everything for developing a mobile and web app solution for your business. And when it comes to creating banking apps for iOS and Android, there are a few things to consider.
User-first design
When developing a Revolut-like app, you need to keep its design clear and simple for users. An app that’s difficult to use can push back both loyal and new customers. Here what we mean when we say a user-friendly app 🔽
One-two taps needed to access the key features
Ability to customize and personalize the app (avatar, color theme, etc.)
Try to pack your app with as many features and services as possible. And don’t forget that all transactions should be quick and well-organized. Users won’t like 10+ security codes to verify each separate payment and long turnaround time.
Mobile devices are different
Different customers use different mobile devices and mobile operating systems. And we recommend building separate apps for various mobile operating systems. You can start with Android and iOS and optimize your banking app for two key platforms.
You should pay attention to both OS as well as screen size and phone features. Some phones don’t support biometrical authentication. Some users don’t update OS, and others update it on time. You need to consider all these things while creating a banking app like Revolut.
How to check if your app meets all OS requirements 🔽
Use simulations to run pre-tests. It will help you optimize the app and test security.
Get feedback, gather metrics, and run user surveys.
Optimize your app for different generations
The younger users are, the more often they use mobile apps. According to the research by Fortunly, users under the age of 54 use Apple Pay or Venmo 1-2 times a week while Zoomers and Millenials use it more often.
It’s not only the frequency of use to take into account, but also values. Zoomers care more about gamification and personal touch than their older relatives.
Do you know what features a mobile banking app should have? Check out How to build a banking app with Mova.io .
Photo by DocuSign / Unsplash How much does it cost to make an app like Revolut
Here we’re going to shed more light on how much it costs to develop a banking app like Revolut for any mobile operating system. But the following project cost may differ from yours. The project cost may vary based on personal requirements, app structure, design, 3rd-party integrations, etc.
Moreover, there are a few more factors to consider while choosing your outsourcing partner, including the location of your provider and the hourly rate of your development team. While estimating the project cost, we used our average rate (X per hour). Check out the table below to find out how much you’ll need to develop a banking app like Revolut with Mova.io 🔽
Features
Hours
Cost
UX/ UI design
4+ weeks
$2000+
Technical foundation
2 weeks
$3,000
Registration, Documents Verification (KYC)
4 weeks
~$8,000
Bank Account Connection
4 weeks
$8,000
Virtual Card issuance
<6 weeks/td>
$12,000
P2P Payments
3 weeks
$6,000
Remote Payments (Outside the platform)
6 weeks
$12,000
Balance & Spending Stats
2 Weeks
$4,000
Transaction details
1 Week
$2,000
Chatbot
3 Weeks
$3,000
Messenger screens
2 Weeks
$3,000
Total
~8 months
$63,000
Bear in mind that the following table isn’t a final estimation. Each project is matchless and needs different features. The estimate above can help you understand how much time and money you need to launch a mobile banking app like Revolut from scratch. If you don’t need some of the mentioned features - the price will be lower; if you would like to add more custom features - it might change the estimate as well. Thus, the rough project cost to launch a fin-tech app starts from ~$50,000.
Key takeaways
Developing a mobile banking app isn’t a piece of cake but definitely worth investing your time and effort since neobanks are on the rise. Quick transactions, lots of payments, low commissions, and no geo limits are distinguishing features of a neobank application.
Of course, creating a mobile banking app is a multi-stage process involving lots of attention and time. With a skilled development team, it’s much easier. At Mova.io, we know how to build mobile banking apps to solve your business as well as customer needs.
It looks like you’re all set and ready to launch a banking app like Revolut. And we’re ready to turn your ideas into a successful mobile app with 1M downloads and a five-star rating.
Have a question? Just write to us at:
📮 mail@mova.io
