Neobank app development: A complete Guide for 2025

Finance is evolving rapidly, and neobanks play a significant role in shaping modern digital banking. One of the Artkai team's projects was developing neobank software for Winbank. This reliable and multifunctional platform replaced the need to use traditional bank branches. Platform users now have access to their finances anywhere and anytime.

Based over nine years of experience working with international banks and fintech products, Artkai specialists created this guide to outline the main development processes, recommended functionality, and critical regulatory standards.

Must-Have Neobank Features

It is clear that to choose the correct set of features for your business; you must realize that a neobank from scratch must meet the needs of the modern banking sector and target audience.

It is worth noting that, in any case, the functionality should not be oversaturated at once, and it is worth using the consulting services of experts. In this case, an app development company will build a strategy for your fintech application based on a full-fledged business analysis.

So, let's analyze the main functionalities that are necessary for successful Neobank app development:

Onboarding

The registration process for a customer should be convenient, fast, and safe. Therefore, digital and biometric identification should be used to realize these main points. Uploading your own documents, such as an ID card, passport, or driver's license, will speed up the identity verification process.

Technical implementation

To make this process even more convenient, you can implement pre-authentication through third-party services, such as BankID, or integrate with a state database. This will provide alternative login methods, significantly reduce the time for identity verification, and increase customer trust in the banking application.

In addition, it is essential to provide for the possibility of integration with KYC and AML systems for automated user verification.

Management tools

This includes everything that will ensure convenient financial management for the user, such as categorizing expenses, setting limits on accounts, combining multiple cards in one digital wallet, mobile check deposit, or developing multiple payment options such as P2P payments, QR payments, and international payments.

Additionally, you can apply:

It is important to use not only the mandatory standard functionality to ensure competitiveness but also to adapt the business to the latest fintech solutions that will bring profit and improve the user experience. For this purpose, it is worth paying attention to industry trends that will add efficiency and open up new ways of investment.

At the same time, ensuring security, regulatory compliance, and seamless integration with third-party financial services remain critical functionalities for a neobank app. The following sections will examine important regulatory points contributing to creating a reliable and scalable digital banking solution.

Notifications

Notifications are a must to manage your finances. There are several types of notifications that your neobank app should have:

Setting up an effective notification system should be an important step for your neobank's relevance. After all, they help customers stay informed about their financial transactions, control their spending, and respond to changes in a timely manner.

However, it is crucial to find a balance between the benefits of the notification system and their frequency to avoid overload. Flexible settings will allow users to choose what they want to receive and will be able to turn off notifications when they are not needed.

Overall, this is an essential element that should have a place, but it is worth noting that this place should be defined.

Integration with third-party services

The Open Banking API enables you to use advanced features and integrations with financial and non-financial institutions to ensure the highest level of banking services.

Main integrations:

Integration with third-party services expands a neobank's capabilities, making it more functional, convenient, and competitive. Thanks to the Open Banking API, users get access to fast and secure payments, automated accounting, and tools for working with cryptocurrencies.

The competent approach of the supplier company to integrations allows you to increase customer loyalty, providing them with the convenience of using familiar payment services and financial instruments. In addition, such solutions help the bank to adapt faster to market changes and implement new technologies that meet the modern requirements of the financial sector.

Advanced security

Security is the most important issue, as your mobile app works with sensitive data. You should also consider legal regulations, guarantees, and a banking license that will confirm the trustworthiness of your digital bank.

Things to consider:

For your company, the reliability of the protection level should be determined by a combination of modern encryption technologies, multi-level authentication, and constant transaction monitoring to detect fraudulent actions.

At the same time, compliance with legal regulations and a banking license increase trust in the digital bank. It is important to implement advanced security measures and regularly test the system for resistance to potential threats, which will allow you to respond quickly to new cybersecurity challenges.

Analytics and Reporting

Developing analytical tools in a digital bank application is a promising area, as it will allow for improved UX and gamification elements.

For example:

Users gain insights into their financial behavior through automated reports, spending charts, and AI-powered recommendations.

Analytics also help banks better understand needs, personalize services, and offer needed financial products. Using gamification and visual elements makes the financial planning process more interactive.

Support

A fundamental function that should be natively understandable and easy to navigate in the neobank app. Also, when developing, it is worth including several options for support that will be most relevant.

Personalized support in critical situations increases the level of trust in the bank and creates a positive interaction experience. However, quality support is only one of the components of successful neobank development.

Well-chosen functionality is only half the battle. To implement the neobank app development process, you should choose a reliable neobank development company that will technically build a neobank and provide you with quality assurance and a customer-centric approach.

To do this, let's analyze the process side of neobank solutions development and the important aspects that should be followed in neobank software.

Creating a Neobank App: Development process

Building a new bank from scratch is a complex process that requires experience, flexibility, and a deep understanding of the main steps to achieving a complete product.

Especially important is the factor of ensuring the correct operation of the digital bank in the future and its technical support and compliance with the requirements for renewing the banking license. Therefore, in this section, Artkai's leading specialists focused on creating recommendations for developing a neobank from scratch, where we focused on the critical steps in developing neobank applications below.

Discovery

The value of this introductory step lies in identifying market opportunities and analyzing the real picture of the fintech niche. The practical result of this stage for your company should be a UVP, which will be the main driver of the process.

It is also recommended to consider the following aspects:

Design and prototyping

Competent UX/UI design should become the hallmark of your banking app because it is easy to fail by making just a few mistakes. Thanks to their professionalism and approach, an experienced design team should protect your business from failure.

The main factors of successful UI/UX and prototyping:

Architecting

At this step, we focus on usability, as a flexible architecture will guarantee correct operation and scalability.

Factors to consider:

Development

A long-term process characterized by implementing the main business logic, ensuring the correctness of the backend and front end, and ensuring productive work on all devices.

It is worth paying attention to:

Note that the necessary frameworks, languages, and tools for neobank app development have been selected based on the technical requirements for a specific project and the operating system features on which your application will run. Swift and iOS SDK are usually used for iOS applications. For Android applications, the technical stack may include Java or Kotlin, and Android SDK. Another approach is to use technologies like  React Native or Flutter to build applications for both iOS and Android from a single codebase.

It is also recommended that an MVP be created, as it can be used to assess whether the application will be relevant and promising from a business point of view. An MVP usually has essential functions, such as account history, payments, and a landing screen. After this, the minimum viable product is used by a pilot audience, after which full feedback is formed.

Integration and testing

This step is vital to ensuring stable operation under high loads, protecting the product from hacker attacks, optimizing performance, and detecting bugs.

What to look for when working with a service provider team:

Testing also has its characteristics, so it is worth following some practices that will help quality assurance engineers test all the features of your Neobank app.

Therefore, testing all new flows and areas is crucial. After all, in the first stages, it is impossible to know precisely how a particular process will affect the logic or functionality.

Deployment

If the deployment is correct, it will guarantee the digital bank's stable operation and significantly reduce the risk of downtime.

Important factors:

Also, fintech should use the DevOps approach, as it will combine the development and operations processes, increasing the efficiency and quality of software product deployment.

Here are some important factors why this is needed:

For this reason, even minimal security improvements for each application update are a wise step, primarily from cyberattacks.

Maintenance and support

The stage of further support and maintenance is responsible and requires app developers' flexibility. As much in the application roadmap could change, the focus is on how quickly the team can respond to certain changes.

What you need to pay attention to:

It should be noted that the development process is complex and is about the thoroughness and professionalism of the team, as well as the focus on the security and uniqueness of the digital product.

Next, let's focus on the main factors that should be taken into account before the product launch, which are critical for your Neobank app to be in a high position in the global Neo banking market.

Important considerations

Strict regulation is not new for fintech products, as their main focus is on financial transactions and personal data. Therefore, let's focus on the important standards that will ensure the correct operation of your business's banking services.

Regulatory Compliance

Tech Infrastructure and Scalable Architecture

Creating a flexible and scalable architecture for stable work with a large data flow is essential.

Main approaches:

API Integration

Important areas:

Data Encryption

Our experience

The main specialization of Artkai experts is the development of fintech solutions, so when a client asked us to develop a web and mobile digital bank, we knew we could fulfill the request.

The Winbank project had to meet the tasks and goals set, namely:

Also, after defining the fundamental goals, we identified the main functionality before the neobank software development process:

After almost a year and a half of cooperation, the client eventually received a ready-made Neo Bank app, which, due to its high-quality functionality, allowed the client sector to increase its share.

We and the client were also pleased with the results:

Conclusions 

Neobank app development significantly improves the financial sector and the banking industry. Nowadays, the priority of the modern market is speed, convenience, and security in managing one's finances. Therefore, it is understandable that many fintech companies now need to use the services of a reliable neobank development company that will help them create a neobank from scratch or modernize an outdated one.

If your company is looking for a reliable neobank app development provider, feel free to contact us and we will help you by using modern technologies and approaches that will make your financial institution even more efficient and progressive.