Step-by-Step Guide to Fintech App Development in 2025

Fintech software quickly became an integral part of everyday life for many consumers worldwide due to its convenience and accessibility. More startups are hitting the market each year, with several becoming world-famous Unicorns, making the niche attractive for business owners.

By the end of 2024, around 30,000 fintech businesses had been registered in APAC, EMEA, and the Americas. This number is staggeringly high compared to previous years, up from roughly 26K registered in 2023.

With such positive tendencies as the ones mentioned, the markets’ lucrative profits become evident for fintech enthusiasts looking to start their businesses. So, in this article, I will dissect the steps to create a fintech application and how to do it in the year 2025.

Fintech Market Overview

The industry is fast-paced, quick to adopt new trends and technologies, and as fast-growing as it is innovative. Fintech is projected to reach $644.6 billion in market value by 2029, with a staggering CAGR of 25.18%.

Digital payments currently have the most users, reaching 4.81 billion by 2028. Digital banks also yield significant profits, with the total value of deposits held in challenger banks projected to reach USD 22 trillion. This tendency shows an increased interest among users in fintech software.

It becomes evident that the niche is magnifying for both customers and businesses, deriving profits from a significant expansion in user numbers. To become one of those startups at the forefront of innovation, a company must adhere to several helpful principles that I will highlight in the next segment of this article.

New startups form in the fintech industry each year, and the growth projectile shows the growing competition. Compared to previous years, the number of startups in both EMEA and the Americas increased significantly.

Over 64% of customers have already adopted fintech services; therefore, the market of seasoned consumers will expect something groundbreaking from a new solution. For an innovative fintech application development, you would need to pay attention to the fintech industry trends as they shift along with the customers’ demands.

Yet, customers’ requirements are not the only ones changing. Investors are also becoming more cautious about new solutions on the market. Influenced by economic instability, they have fueled a significant decline in investments since Q3 of last year. Compared to 2023, the total funding value decreased by 55%, moving downward from $36.6 billion in Q3 2023 to $16.4 billion in Q3 2024.

Steps to Create a Fintech App in 2025

Stats reveal that fintech is a demanding industry that sets substantial entry requirements from your customers and makes them face competition. Yet, fintech mobile app development can generate significant profits with the astounding digits I presented in the previous segment.

So, without further ado, let’s look at what you can do for fintech mobile app development in 2025 that will attract both customers and investors, helping you withstand the competition.

#1 Discovery

Before development begins, you should conduct a discovery phase.

The discovery phase is the initial stage of the software development life cycle, and it aims to help you understand your goals, requirements, and capabilities.

This phase can be finalized in a few weeks to a few months, but the benefits of conducting it will allow you to focus on clear and undisrupted software development. Usually, the DashDevs team conducts the discovery phase for all projects, excluding updates for the existing products or one-pagers.

Overall, the stage consists of the following components:

#1 Researching the market

The primary goal of this step during the discovery phase is to validate the market’s need for your product and determine the scope of work according to the research.

At the same time, this stage also aims to discover your customers’ needs and market demands. It can help you understand how your business can satisfy their needs.

For example, we found that Tarabut, the first open banking platform in MENA, had a free niche to occupy. Therefore, our team created a network that enables fintech to connect with third-party services to provide qualitative B2C services and allow users to manage their finances transparently.

Altogether, it made the software an all-in-one solution for B2B2C in MENA.

#2 Functionality definition

If you already have a vision of how your application should look and work, this step should be no hassle. However, after thorough research and evaluation, some changes are usually made to the feature list.

First, let’s list the basic functionality of a fintech application. Typically, it would include:

1. User registration and authentication.
2. Onboarding.
3. Account management.
4. Payment processing.
5. Transaction history.
6. Notifications.
7. Backoffice.

Then, depending on the specifics of your application, you might want to upscale the list. For example, digital wallets might need multi-currency support, budgeting app – and investment portfolio management, and challenger banks would require integrations with card issuing providers.

For example, for the abovementioned Tarabut, we added regulatory reporting and financial planning to ensure customers could conveniently manage their accounts with one app.

#3 Resource estimation

After the research, estimate your budget and time constraints based on the features you want to implement.

Usually, an experienced team can help you adhere to the time constraints by utilizing integrations and technologies needed to speed up the time to market. We used this process to help Pi-1, a modular white-label banking platform, launch from scratch in nine months.

Suppose you have a solid technical backup from one of the best fintech app development companies. In that case, you will achieve an efficient development process as you can establish control methods and a transparent workflow.

#4 Regulatory compliance

The most significant difference between any software development project and fintech app development is regulatory compliance. Navigating this world can be complex, as different regions have different regulatory norms.

You should be familiar with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For UK fintechs, you should also learn more about the UK GDPR and decide whether to go with EMI or PI licensing.

Your business must adhere to a list of separate fintech regulations in the US, such as the US PATRIOT Act.

MENA also has a very different set of regulations, with each country having different regulators. For example, regulations in Saudi Arabia require a business to acquire a sandbox license from SAMA, while Egypt requires one from its local central bank.

What unites all the countries worldwide is the need to comply with KYC and AML regulations, which DashDevs can most certainly help you with.

#5 Setting goals and success indicators

Key performance indicators can help guide the process, steering you to the aspects that require the most attention when you notice a significant decline in one of your success indicators. They can also become substantial indicators of possible pivoting points, even at the early stages of development.

Your KPIs will change depending on your stage, as they won’t be set in stone after the discovery phase. The graph below shows some of the most popular KPIs fintech startups utilize.

#6 Choosing the tech stack

You might need different technologies to ensure your goals are feasible based on security needs, vendor compliance, and scalability plans.

Here are examples of technologies commonly used for fintech app development:

• Mobile. Swift, Typescript, Dart, Kotlin, C++
• Back-end. .Net, Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, Node.JS
• Front-end. React, Angular, Vue.JS
• DevOps. Kubernetes, Docker

Deliverables of the discovery phase

The primary outcome of this stage is the creation of SRS, the document that will determine your future progression with the development process. First, you must ensure the team defines and understands the requirements.

You can read another article I composed for our blog to learn more about the software requirements.

Among other deliverables of the product discovery phase are the following:

1. Defined product vision and scope of work.
2. User flows.
3. Feature structures.
4. System design.
5. Third-party integrations discovery.
6. Recommended technology stack.
7. Roadmap.
8. Recommended team composition.
9. Project plan.

Overall, the discovery phase lays the foundation for your further development. I would argue that no project, especially in fintech, can achieve great results without it, save for prototypes or one-pagers. After the foundation is laid, however, more technically complex processes begin.

#2 Architecture

After wrapping up the discovery phase, your team can move on to creating a software architecture.

Software architecture is the high-level structure of a software system that defines how the system is organized, its components, and how they interact.

Usually, software architecture acts as a foundation for the application, creating the basic pattern for software structure and further interaction patterns between different components of a fintech app. Therefore, there are distinct patterns of software architecture, as shown in the graph below.

Different architecture patterns can bring different structures to your fintech application. Let’s expand on them.

1. Layered architecture. This architecture pattern divides applications into different layers, each with distinct capabilities.
2. Event-driven architecture. A pattern like this adapts to system changes, building an appropriate response from its components.
3. Microkernel architecture. This architecture pattern encompasses only the system’s core functionality, separating it from the added functionality.
4. Microservices architecture. According to this pattern, an application comprises several different services that function independently yet compose a single system.
5. Monolithic architecture. This pattern is the opposite of the microservices; it’s a single unit comprised of all intertwined components.

When building software architecture for fintech applications with the DashDevs team, we emphasize two concepts: scalability and integrations. They are intertwined, as fintech scalability often means an opportunity to integrate with more APIs, enter new markets, and expand the functionality.

Once you move past creating an infrastructure and start thinking about a functional prototype, you might face the challenge of looking for a fintech vendor. Here’s an article that might help you.

When choosing a software architecture, it is best to connect with a software development partner who can help you find the best option for your business.

#3 Design

Design in the fintech app development process defines how the users will see your product.

Software design is the process of transforming the software’s requirements and the needs it aims to satisfy into a blueprint.

Usually, the process starts with a requirements assessment and utilizes the deliverables of the discovery phase. Thus, the design phase will require understanding user and corporate requirements to create wireframes. Wireframes communicate the structure of the product and help visualize it.

It’s worth noting about prototyping. Creating a prototype can help greatly in experimenting with different approaches before committing to a final design, testing customer response, and creating a blueprint for future UI/UX.

A fintech application prototype is an early sample, a software model built to test a concept or process. Most often, prototypes are quite simple and nonfunctional.

Note: this part of the development process is only relevant for those projects that require a design service or are developed from scratch.

You might employ two main types of prototypes to brainstorm your software’s future exterior before committing to a final design:

1. A low-fidelity prototype is a basic representation of a software product that only encompasses user flow and basic functionality without dwelling on the details.
2. A high-fidelity prototype is a detailed representation of a product that includes visual designs, interactions, and animations without any connection to the back end.

The development of a prototype is a pre-step before creating a minimum viable product (MVP); however, they are drastically different. Let’s take a look at it in the next section.

#4 MVP

MVP is already connected to the back end and fully capable of executing basic processes that make your product functional. Here’s a standard MVP definition:

MVP is the earliest version of your product with just enough features to attract early adopters and provide valuable feedback for future development.

Note: MVP is not a mandatory development step. It is optional but can greatly help fintech software by allowing you to validate your business concept with minimal risks.

Businesses start a project with MVP rather than with full-scale software fairly frequently. In my professional practice, crucial reasons are the following:

1. Time to market is crucial. Creating an MVP to build a fintech application development process means having an opportunity to launch your product early. This would allow you to generate profits and feedback while the full-fledged version is still in development.
2. Additional investments are needed to scale a product. MVP can grant your investors a choice to use your application fully. If you launch your MVP fintech app on the market, you can also demonstrate the user response to it.
3. The idea requires validation. As mentioned above, MVP can help validate your business concept as it allows you to enter the market earlier and gauge its response to your software. You can launch the software before acquiring licensing for some parts of it. For example, Revolut has been in different markets for years before acquiring a UK banking license.

For one of the products the team worked on, Centinel, an insurance app for transparent coverage, an MVP was created. The goal was to help the client adhere to the budget constraints. To ensure that the MVP was effective and could be launched, we included features such as risk assessment, contract automation, and email management.

This approach allowed the customer to enter the market in just four months and, therefore, occupy the niche quickly. Now, Centinel is in the process of scaling but already has 50+ implemented features.

After the MVP is developed, you can scale to the full-fledged product and enhance your FinTech application with new features and integrations.

#5 Development

Fintech development is similar to software development for other niches in many ways; the process is standardized and aimed at creating a fully functional fintech application. Normally, software development includes the following steps:

1. Infrastructure setup. At this stage, the development team is setting up the infrastructure for further cooperation. It includes setting up GitHub for version control and seamless collaboration, Terraform project for resource definition and provision, and static Terraform code analysis to identify potential mistakes and improve code readability.
2. Environment setup. This initial stage of the development process is essentially a workspace setup as you confirm the tech stack and choose necessary IDEs and other tools, such as debugging instruments and a version control system.
3. Backend development. At this step, the core business logic is created. It determines the behavior of your software application and the decisions the software makes based on implemented security measures and database connections.
4. Frontend development. This step is essentially how your software looks for the end user. It encompasses user interface and experience, determining the efficiency of interactive elements within the application.
5. Integration of third-party services. Integration with third-party APIs includes adding functionality to your software developed by third-party providers. It can be payment gateways, KYC systems, or card-issuing features; depending on the application’s needs, the set of integrations might vary.
6. Code optimization. Through testing and code reviews, the development team can find bottlenecks and code imperfections at this step. They will be fixed to ensure that the software can move on to the next stage and ensure further scalability and modernization.
7. Version control and collaboration. This stage tracks the progress of updating the software and is typically achieved with the use of version control tools such as Git. Each new version can be tracked in the system, enabling developers to manage changes made to the code and enhance the cleanliness of documentation and the efficiency of software development overall.
8. Deployment to staging. Before the final deployment, software developers deploy the software to a staging environment that closely resembles the production.
9. Testing. At this stage, the development team will perform unit and integration tests before deploying the software to production.
10. Deployment to production. The final step of this stage signifies the deployment of an application to the production environment. This means that your app is finally on the market and ready for end-users.

Overall, software development is the longest step of the full cycle, and it goes hand in hand with testing. Scaling, the next step this post covers can be seen as part of it; however, the specifics of expanding warrant being seen as a separate step of the fintech app SDLC.

#6 Scaling

Scaling is an additional step you might take if you have a developed product and want to expand it.

To ensure successful scaling, you may want to create a roadmap for fintech app development that can help you set effective KPIs, tangible SMART goals, and an overall long-term development plan.

Consider refining your tech stack. An MVP naturally needs fewer technological capabilities than a full-fledged project. For scaling, you might include APIs for new features, migrate to different servers, or implement AI into your fintech app.

Generally, scaling has three main types:

1. Vertical scaling. It involves upgrading an app’s hardware components, such as migrating to a different platform or adding more calculating power. It is suitable for smaller applications or those with limited scalability needs.
2. Horizontal scaling. This type significantly increases the capacity of your fintech application to hold traffic by adding more servers. It empowers your software to process a bigger task scope.
3. Diagonal scaling. A mix of both, this scaling type for fintech app development involves adding more services and hardware components to your application.

Read more about scalability in this article to understand the specifics of this process.

As an example, one of the products I’ve worked on scaled from an MVP using its code as an initial base. We’ve added more features to make the software unique, but we mostly followed the users’ responses. So, I advise paying close attention to what your users need from the app at this stage when improving and iterating.

#7 Testing

Testing must be performed at all times, just as we do at DashDevs, one of the top fintech app development companies. This step was briefly mentioned throughout the blog post, and now it’s time to look at it in more detail.

An agile quality assurance practice is simultaneously performed during other stages of development to ensure that we do not let any bottlenecks pass from one stage to another.

For fintech, I believe these testing types are the ones I recommend for fintech app development:

• Load testing. It simulates real-world user traffic to evaluate how a system performs under expected load conditions.
• Pen testing. This testing type creates a fake cyberattack performed on a system to evaluate its security.
• Vulnerability testing. It includes identifying, evaluating, and assessing weaknesses, flaws, or vulnerabilities in the fintech app.

Pen testing is one type that can be extremely useful if your application is projected to face many security challenges. This would be relevant for digital banks, lending platforms, and others. We provide this service among other testing types.

#8 Release and Post-Release Support

Releasing an application is a rigorous process that usually encompasses the last round of testing and soft launch.

By soft launch, I mean releasing your application to a limited number of users who will give you elaborate feedback and show the general market response to it.

Then, the app might undergo a few rounds of updates or corrections, testing, and licensing. Each application distribution platform has its own rules. For example, to release an application on the AppStore, you would need to account for an additional 24 hours to a few days before the app appears in the store.

When your app is already on the market, development does not stop. DashDevs, as one of the fintech app development companies, takes these steps during the post-release stage:

1. Integrating with feedback forms and ticket systems to create a task immediately when a user files a complaint or intercoms to have a conversation with your user within the app.
2. Gathering direct feedback from users via emails and other contact forms for fintech app development.
3. Analyzing user retention by gathering data to pinpoint aspects of your application that are underperforming.
4. Forming priorities for new releases to tackle crucial updates first, even before regular modernization.
5. Modernize according to resources, experts’ opinions, user feedback, and analytics. Don’t try to understand everything yourself, sometimes it’s better to consult with an expert.

Adhere to feedback your users are giving you. This will boost your user retention rate and enhance trust levels. Often, users know their needs much better than business owners, and if you consistently get feedback about a pressing issue, address your tech partner or one of the fintech app development companies to change something in the app.

For example, with the retirement platform myIODD, the DashDevs client had this problem with the questionnaire, which had unclear and lengthy questions and was misunderstood by the customers overall. They came to us to change it, and as a result of our collaboration, user engagement improved by 30%.

Wrapping Up

During fintech app development, you must pay attention to many aspects and ensure that all of them are tackled and included in your work process. This alone can pose a significant challenge, even if you already understand how to create a fintech app.

To resolve this problem, you might seek aid from an experienced software development company. DashDevs, a fintech app development company, has over 15 years of experience in software development and fintech. We’ve delivered over 500 projects and can tackle any challenge. Let’s talk!