Stable system performance, scalability, and data protection are important considerations when creating a banking app. In contrast, major fintech companies often provide new features and upgrades monthly or even weekly while developing full-fledged software solutions in three to five months. Therefore, financial institutions of any size need to enhance their time-to-market to stay competitive.
Choosing the right technology stack to design a banking app that meets quality criteria is critical. Engineers may automate the development process while providing a flawless user experience (UX) and maintaining data security by deploying software solutions that fulfill project criteria.
Cross-platform technologies are extensively used to create applications in the banking and finance sector because they allow organizations to cut expenditures and feature delivery cycles dramatically. Flutter and other cutting-edge technologies have made it feasible to construct high-performance, native-like solutions. Flutter has already been used to build software products by several well-known companies, including Rosbank and Nubank.
This cross-platform technology is an excellent choice if you’re working on a banking app. The advantages of using the Flutter framework in finance software development are discussed in this post by Surf software specialists.
What is Flutter?
It is possible to create mobile, web, and embedded apps using the open-source Flutter UI software development kit (SDK). Flutter allows programmers to develop a single codebase for several operating platforms, including iOS, Android, Linux, and Windows. Flutter was released by Google in 2017 and has since gained support from a burgeoning community of developers.
Flutter comes with a wide range of pre-built components:
- A flexible framework in the React style;
- A slew of Material Design-compliant widgets for iOS devices;
- The 2D rendering engine for mobile devices;
- Dart DevTools for testing and debugging software products;
- Unit and integration testing application programming interfaces (APIs);
- APIs and third-party SDKs for system connectivity;
- Tools for developing, testing, and compiling applications using the command line.
- Headless test runner for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Flutter is now being used extensively in the creation of financial applications. Many financial institutions, like Rosbank and Kasikornbank, have already included this cross-platform architecture in their projects.
PracticeBank, a kids’ bank app, Fillit, an electronic wallet, and IBANshare, an app for safely storing numerous IBANs, are just a few of the many businesses and efforts that fall into this category (a mobile banking solution for families who travel).
Why would you use Flutter to develop a banking app?
- Shorter development time and lower expenses for banking apps
Banks strive to reduce time to market while maintaining the quality of their solutions to obtain a competitive advantage and attract clients. By adopting Flutter, software developers may build a single codebase that can run on several operating platforms, saving them the expense of hiring multiple teams to develop native apps. Quality assurance engineers find software faults and potential problems sooner because they can work more quickly.
Flutter helps to faster product delivery by providing a comprehensive SDK. Furthermore, a cross-platform framework has a Hot Reload capability that lets programmers see real-time changes to the front and back ends. As a result, businesses may save time while creating and compiling financial apps. It’s worth mentioning that this feature isn’t given by native technology.
Additionally, Flutter’s user interface is simpler to design than many other platforms. Several Material Design widgets are available in Flutter that software specialists may modify.
- Application security
Cross-platform frameworks like Xamarin, Ionic, and React Native are often less secure than Flutter financial applications. The Dart programming language is used to write Flutter code, which is then compiled into machine-readable code.
Compilation generates a native library with a complex structure and various data types. Reverse engineering has become more difficult, making it more difficult for hackers to replicate the program.
- Consistent performance
Customer satisfaction and retention rates are directly related to a company’s performance. Consumers are less likely to use a banking application again if the content load time is long and the product performs badly under large loads.
Regarding speed, Flutter is capable of 60 frames per second. There are rare circumstances when software engineers may achieve even 120 FPS speed. If you’re looking for a banking app that can service a big audience and respond quickly, Flutter is an excellent solution.
- Data security
Maintaining information security and compliance with standards such as GDPR and PCI DSS is vital as long as financial software solutions often store substantial volumes of sensitive data (for example, client personal data, and financial data).
Using Face ID or Touch ID, Flutter allows software developers to secure programs and data they store by enabling biometric authentication. Flutter’s implementation of these features is identical to that of native software.
Data security may now be enforced thanks to Dart developers’ library implementations of all common data encryption techniques. The use of cross-platform Flutter technology in banking apps may thereby improve data security.
- facilitated app maintenance
Developing a banking application takes time and work, but it’s essential to keep it up-to-date to meet customers’ expectations. A financial institution may increase its impact on the market by releasing new products and upgrades based on consumer input.
The upkeep of a banking app is much easier since programmers have to develop one codebase to cover all platforms. Maintenance expenditures are also decreased as a consequence.
Here are a few examples of banking applications built using Flutter, including Rosbank, Europe’s first cross-platform mobile banking platform.
Rosbank, Europe’s first Flutter-based banking app
Since its founding in 1993, Rosbank has been a universal bank and a part of the global financial organization Société Générale. A mobile app for business customers was available when Rosbank approached Surf. However, the product was built on top of the old technological stack. As a consequence, introducing updates and expanding functionality was next to impossible. Customers also had difficulties with performance that impacted their experience.
However, Rosbank intended to construct an app with additional features simultaneously. It was chosen to use cross-platform technology because of the short launch deadlines for the project. As a cross-platform framework, Flutter enables developers to build high-performance, streamlined solutions while saving time and money.
The app was the first of its kind in Europe and the second in the world to use Flutter. The financial and insurance app won the Tagline Award for Best App.
Nubank creates new functionalities using Flutter
Nubank, a neobank founded in 2013, provides digital credit cards, personal loans, life insurance, and investment goods. The business includes offices in Germany, Argentina, and Mexico, and its home base in Brazil. The company’s rapid expansion was due to its ability to provide financial services to 48 million customers.
Nubank could not provide new solutions and enhancements promptly under these conditions. In addition, coordination between the iOS and Android teams got more challenging. As a result, new features for one platform would be released ahead of time for the other. Thus, Nubank may shorten the time between new features being released and maintain a high-quality level. The Nubank chose to employ a cross-platform framework for this reason.
After a comprehensive investigation of the current technologies, flutter was chosen as a cross-platform technology by software developers (Kotlin, Flutter, and React Native). Nubank’s software testers now access a wider selection of tools, better documentation, and a more reliable API.
Nubank could reduce the time it took to introduce a new feature by three times, thanks to the help of Flutter. It also improved speed and maintained a consistent user interface on all platforms. Flutter is now the major mobile banking app development technology in the organization.
Conclusion
Flutter is an excellent technology for building a banking app that achieves speed and fault tolerance since it is a feature-rich SDK widely accepted by the community. Flutter makes it feasible to design the UI and maintain a consistent user experience across different operating systems. In the financial sector, software specialists may use Flutter to enforce data security and boost protection against reverse engineering.