Specifics of FinTech apps testing to pay attention to

Let's start with a sort of myth. When it comes to priorities in testing FinTech applications, security is the first thing that comes to mind. For the most part, this means checking how properly personal data (payment data) is stored and assuring the consistency of transactions. In fact, these and other bank card operations are handled by accredited payment companies. Why doesn't a FinTech start-up do it on its side? The answer is simple: it is very expensive. To get the license to deal directly with payments, you need to pay a lot of money, hire an army of lawyers and, of course, do a titanic job. In this article, we will talk only about the features of testing FinTech applications that aren't burdened with obtaining the aforementioned licenses.

This doesn't mean that security isn't important at all. Let's be clear: most FinTech app developers/owners use the services of third-party accredited companies, delegating work and, accordingly, responsibility for operations with bank cards. Therefore, the level of security required for a FinTech application doesn't have to go beyond the standards of other domains by default.

As previously mentioned, we will try to bypass the obvious points that are important in ensuring the quality of software and focus specifically on the intricacies of testing FinTech applications.

The main problem of any FinTech company that deals with money, especially those who provide various loans, is processing a large number of coefficients (usually more than 120). The coefficients represent factors that help an algorithm, which is basically wired on the client's side, to determine whether a customer is trustworthy or not. Accordingly, the most important part is the ability of any QA team to test every variation of the coefficients. In other words, it's all about selecting initial data records in the same way as a regular user would send a request to the application and have back a correct final result according to every single tested coefficient and their combinations. There must be no mistakes. Nicely implemented data-driven and API testing will handle this task.

Testing integration with third-party services is another tricky point. In the case of testing a bank card integration, QA engineers face some barriers. It's so because "a user makes payment" scenarios can only be reproduced at production or staging. Therefore, in order to test it, you have to either "mock" (simulate procedures to mimic the behavior of real procedures in controlled ways) these operations, or even exclude these integrations from testing and test them only during regression testing on staging. Leaving it for staging is risky, of course.

Reporting testing is the cornerstone of QA in FinTech. Any FinTech company, one way or another, sends reports to state regulatory authorities, for example, the SEC (The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission). Naturally, commissions provide an API for such reports. With its help, FinTech companies prepare reports, build them, and finally send them. The most important thing here is to thoroughly test the data collection logic. It's one thing for a company to lose money due to a logical error in the UI, paying only financial losses for it. Errors in reports, which can be fraught with criminal cases, is an entirely different case. Exchange commissions very carefully monitor the accuracy of information received from FinTech companies. Therefore, reliable reporting automation is a priority for any FinTech startup. However, companies are extremely rare ready to outsource this job, due to high risks. To earn trust, a team of testers needs to have strong and approved expertise along with a positive reputation in the FinTech QA market. Take it with extreme caution when choosing a team that will deal with the reporting!

Testing an app for different OS and devices continues our list. Well, this one can be referred to any domain. However, there are surprisingly many businesses accommodated to outdated technologies for this reason or another that use FinTech services. We frequently receive requests for testing support of old versions of operating systems and browsers, such as Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 11. But it is worth noting that ordinary users level the playing field, as they commonly work with FinTech applications through up-to-date devices from popular manufacturers.

There is one more important point that we would like to highlight in the context of FinTech. It is about the distribution of responsibilities on the project and savings to the detriment of the long-term interests of the company.

While the company hasn't grown yet, the pressure from users and investors may not be as tangible as it is in later stages. Therefore, there is a rather contradictory practice to leave testing to the mercy of developers. Such an approach can be justified only as a last resort: for example, in conditions of a budget and time deficit. If a company plans to stay relevant in the market and reach solvent users with a truly complete and reliable product, then developers should be devoted to what they are best in - development. In the end, the time they spend testing can be utilized to create new features or debug old ones. Moreover, their time is worth a lot. But that's another story.

Remember, cursory testing is definitely not enough. FinTech requires a deep understanding of the technical side of the business. You cannot just take advantage of just understanding the user flow. This is not about how to fill out five forms, hit the submit button, and eventually expect a success window. When testing a FinTech app, a QA engineer has to understand where the data comes from and how it is processed. When a client, a FinTech company, sends formulas to the testing team, they want to be sure that the values will be properly validated and the calculation will be done right.