QA for financial applications: 5 reasons why it is a must-have
The rapid adoption of digital banking has transformed the way consumers interact with financial services. Adjust’s 2023 report highlights a 45% year-over-year increase in finance app installs, with banking apps experiencing a notable 55% growth compared to 2022. This surge reflects the growing reliance on mobile platforms for secure and efficient financial transactions. Ensuring these apps meet users’ expectations requires a strong focus on performance, usability, and security, making robust Quality Assurance (QA) practices essential for eBanking and financial solutions.
Source: Statista
To meet clients’ expectations and enhance their digital experience, financial service providers must ensure high levels of security, stability, and integrity in their mobile and web software. QA plays a critical role in achieving this.
In March 2023, Latitude Financial Services experienced a cyberattack that compromised the personal data of millions, including 7.9 million driver’s license numbers and 53,000 passport numbers. This breach exposed critical security vulnerabilities, highlighting the urgent need for stronger safeguards and robust QA practices.
The attack led to significant financial losses and reputational damage, reinforcing the importance of quality assurance in safeguarding sensitive customer information and maintaining trust in financial services.
To help protect your business, we invite you to explore 5 key reasons why quality assurance is mission-critical for your services and solutions.
Reason #1. Safeguarding confidential data
The financial sector remains one of the top targets for cyberattacks, with a sharp rise in incidents since the pandemic. In 2023, cyberattacks have more than doubled since pre 2020 levels, leading to potential losses of $2.5 billion. Banks and financial organizations must prioritize integrating security into their Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and conduct regular penetration testing to address system vulnerabilities. A comprehensive assessment of issues like broken authentication and excessive data exposure helps mitigate risks. These measures are essential to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.
Let’s see how a1qa’s specialists helped a well-known bank to ensure high reliability and safety of numerous solutions. The QA team started with an assessment based on OWASP API Security Top 10 Project and OWASP Web Security Testing Guide, involving the list of the most recent severe vulnerabilities. They thoroughly tested injections, broken authentication and authorization, security misconfiguration, excessive data exposure, and session management issues.
The next stage included penetration tests to reveal system loopholes and prevent their exploitation by hackers. Thus, they identified a number of flaws that could allow cyber criminals to gain access to a list of users, their passwords, and accounts as well as steal access tokens.
Every year hackers discover more sophisticated ways to penetrate systems, therefore, banks should integrate security operations into SDLC and perform penetration testing to detect defects related to software fragility.
Let’s see how a1qa’s specialists helped a well-known bank to ensure high reliability and safety of numerous solutions. The QA team started with an assessment based on OWASP API Security Top 10 Project and OWASP Web Security Testing Guide, involving the list of the most recent severe vulnerabilities. They thoroughly tested injections, broken authentication and authorization, security misconfiguration, excessive data exposure, and session management issues.
The next stage included penetration tests to reveal system loopholes and prevent their exploitation by hackers. Thus, they identified a number of flaws that could allow cyber criminals to gain access to a list of users, their passwords, and accounts as well as steal access tokens.
Reason #2. Guaranteeing high quality within cloud-based software
Banks and financial organizations are increasingly migrating their applications to the cloud, but they face challenges such as complex data migrations, server interruptions, and security concerns.
The data migration process involves transferring large volumes of sensitive information, and automated testing plays a crucial role in simplifying and accelerating this task. These tests ensure that the software functions seamlessly with cloud-based data after migration. They validate the accurate transfer of customer accounts, transactions, and records while checking data integrity and confirming proper placement within the cloud. Furthermore, automated testing verifies that apps continue to operate as intended post-migration, ensuring smooth functionality. By addressing these critical aspects, automated testing guarantees high data accuracy and minimizes the risk of data corruption or loss.
Reason #3. Ensuring system reliability and high performance
The last thing users want is to encounter issues with their banking or financial app—be it connection problems with the server, transaction errors, or delays in processing payments. These issues often arise because the server infrastructure cannot handle the load, whether due to a high volume of server requests, a large number of concurrent users, or inadequate system scalability. This unavailability to make or receive payments can lead to significant problems, such as missed credit payments, late fees, and even damage to users’ credit ratings.
During a project with a similar issue, a1qa’s professionals introduced load validation to guarantee smooth system functioning with the target load for an extended period as well as stress testing to determine the upper limit of the solution capacity. They also analyzed software dependence on the number of concurrent users, requests, and transactions. It helped the client expand operational volume and provide first-rate services to its customers.
Reason #4. Adjusting software for various platforms
In the second quarter of 2024, Android continued to dominate the mobile operating system market with a share of about 71.65%, while iOS held approximately 27.62%, and other platforms accounted for the remainder. Given the wide range of devices, operating systems, and browsers, it can be challenging to predict which ones consumers will use. To provide a seamless experience and ensure that financial solutions are compatible across diverse devices, we recommend our clients leverage compatibility testing.
In such cases, our experts gather regional statistics for desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. Using this data, they create a compatibility matrix that reflects the most commonly used browsers and platforms. This matrix is then used to test financial apps across these environments, ensuring optimal performance for users on various devices and operating systems.
Reason #5: Ensuring regulatory compliance
The financial industry operates under strict regulations to protect sensitive data, maintain customer trust, and prevent penalties. QA plays a critical role in ensuring compliance by validating that regulatory and technical requirements are met at every stage of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Collaborating with Business Analysts (BAs) and product architects, QA translates requirements into test cases to ensure that software functions align with the necessary standards.
In financial applications, regulatory demands often dictate the implementation of specific functionalities. These include:
- Secure data handling and verification: Features such as Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes ensure data security and regulatory compliance.
- Transaction tracking and monitoring: Systems that create detailed audit trails help organizations monitor financial activities and fulfill regulatory reporting requirements.
- Access control and encryption: Role-based access control and robust encryption methods protect sensitive information and ensure secure data storage and communication.
These functionalities are core requirements and QA ensures their proper implementation by rigorously testing each aspect of functionality against defined requirements.
Beyond functionality testing, QA teams strengthen security and compliance through focused security assessments. These assessments typically follow one of two approaches:
- Minimum security plan: Full vulnerability assessments are performed before major releases, and regular penetration tests are conducted to simulate potential attacks.
- Maximum security plan: The SSDLC approach integrates security testing into every development phase, proactively addressing risks.
Through these methods, QA not only validates compliance with regulations but also ensures the software is resilient against potential threats.
All in all
In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, quality assurance is essential for delivering reliable banking IT products. It safeguards sensitive customer data from breaches, ensuring trust and security.
Comprehensive testing supports smooth cloud migrations, validating accurate data transfer and minimizing risks like corruption or loss. By addressing performance bottlenecks and preventing server downtime, it ensures uninterrupted functionality and a seamless user experience. Testing also optimizes applications for compatibility across various devices, operating systems, and platforms. Finally, QA ensures compliance with stringent industry regulations, validating critical features like data protection, transaction monitoring, and access control to help financial organizations meet legal standards and avoid penalties.
For professional QA support to ensure first-rate quality within your banking software, feel free to contact a1qa’s team.
