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Testing Banking Financial Applications: Challenges, Trends, Best

Practices 

“The most significant trend of 2016 will be the ‘platformification’ of banking” ~

Cornerstone Advisors

Banking and Financial Services industry has been a forerunner in adapting and scaling up

to the changes as and when they happen in the IT world. It is, thus, no surprise that

Digital Transformation has been indicated by the upcoming trends and digital initiatives

like Mobile Wallets, P2P transfers, Ping Pay, Omni Channel Banking etc. to be is the

future of BFSI Industry. As per Juniper Research, by 2017, more than 1B mobile

subscribers (15% of global mobile subscribers) will be using mobile banking.

The Banking domain is replete with ever changing and cutting edge technology, with

intricate functionalities intertwined into the applications. Being at the center of any

commercial activity, it has a huge functional framework spread across Cards and

Payment Gateways, Delivery Channels, Specialised service offerings such as Corporate

Banking, Centralised Banking, etc.

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Secure and smooth support for transactions, ease of access, and performance are vital

for any banking application to succeed.

Challenges and Trends in the Banking Sector 

Omni-channel Banking – With almost everyone getting hooked to the concept of

anytime, anywhere banking, financial houses are trying to launch digital only banks –

that is, banks without branches. Offering end-to-end functionality of a regular bank on

the minimal and highly diverse front-end of a mobile poses a huge challenge.

Web Security, Regulatory & Compliance – Banking portals usually are major targets forhacking and fraudulent activities and thereby penetration testing poses a significant

challenge. Regulation of Banks became even more critical after the 2008 Banking Crisis

as improper functioning of a Bank has a big, negative impact on regular life. Today,

banking institutions need to comply with international security standards such as BASEL

III or BCBS 239 (addresses the Banking systemic risk and the operational risks of the

banks), FATCA and AML (keep vigil on tax evasion and other illegal monetary

transactions), SEPA (takes care of cross border payment regulation), and PCI DSS make

testing of financial applications very important – and very challenging.

Performance Failures – Performance failures in banking portals can have a serious

effect on daily life. Meeting the required performance levels involves taking into

consideration the infrastructure, connectivity, and integration with the backend. The

transaction spikes must be monitored at regular intervals and Stress and Load tests

must also be regularly performed to ensure support for multiple transactions at any

given point in time.

Some other IT trends already showing their impact and presence in the field of finance

are Testing Center Of Excellence (TCOE), big data analytics, cloud, and virtualization.

Even though these are not very pocket-friendly technologies to be maintained, they are

here to stay and will continue to grow.

Additionally, some other commonly faced challenges in testing Internet Banking are:

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•  Variety in internet connections and browsers

•  Usage paths

•  Usability testing

• 

Security and Performance testing

And then there are specific challenges in Testing Mobile Banking Apps

•  Broad range of devices

•  Configuration and design vulnerabilities

•  Security Testing

• 

Time to Market

Best Practices

A few best practices that will help manage the aforesaid challenges in testing banking

applications are:

•  A clearly defined, end-to-end testing methodology

•  Performing overall testing that encompasses all the requirements and workflows

•  Testing the application for performance, security, and functionality

•  Additional testing of the application for the UI, UX, integrity of Data, and support

for multiple and concurrent users

Trying to implement the above mentioned practices require large investments both in

terms of expenses and efforts, and a trusted partner can help banks save a lot of money

and time in addition to ensuring business continuity and protection.

The team at Gallop Solutions specializes in providing testing solutions to the banking

and financial services sector. Register for an informative and thought provoking webinar

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on Apr 13, 11:00 AM EST to learn how you can benefit from the latest test strategies

that are being laid out to help you succeed in the digital age to provide world class

experience to Mobile Banking customers.

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