What is Financial Services Software Development?

The critical role software plays in the financial industry

Software tools are integral to the health and growth of the financial sector. Despite current economic challenges worldwide, innovative developments and emerging technologies continue to push the industry forward. In a modern world of big data and endless communication, integrated software lies at the heart of every financial business.

Whether you work in banking, investment, accounting or insurance, having the right tools can help you do your job better, faster and more securely. It also gives you a leg up in an industry that has become far more complex and cutthroat than ever before.

Typical use cases and applications for financial software

Software tools can deliver value and streamline operations for all stakeholders within and outside your organisation. There are many types of software development and financial software, each designed to achieve a specific goal for you or your user base.

1. Online banking

The normalisation of online banking has been a key financial trend over recent years. From user-friendly websites to mobile apps, online banking can improve productivity and enhance the customer experience.

Many institutions now offer various online banking services, from basic account access and management to payments, transfers, new accounts and loan applications. Online banking relies heavily on cloud integration, and increasingly, AI and machine learning are powering this paradigm.

2. Electronic funds transfer and e-commerce

It has become hard to imagine a world without electronic funds transfers and online payments, and both of these would only be possible with safe and secure financial software.

Typical use cases in this application include point-of-sale systems enabling debit card, credit card and e-wallet payments at physical retail locations. Other software systems also form the backend of payment gateways on e-commerce websites, allowing users to pay for goods online. From Visa and Mastercard to PayPal and Apple Pay, the development of these services is backed by robust data privacy and security standards.

3. Taxation management

Many private, public and government institutions use software to simplify the inherent complexities of taxation management.

The myriad software in this application offers conveniences such as the automatic computation of taxes based on income and expenses and the generation of ready-to-use reports for different periods. Government tax departments also rely heavily on software solutions, allowing people to lodge their taxes online.

4. Accounting and budgeting

Tax management is not the only area of accounting that takes advantage of software services. More and more companies now entrust day-to-day money management to intelligent software tools.

Both in personal and institutional finance, budgeting is also improved with software. Users increasingly leverage software to analyse expense data, enabling them to use statistical insights to improve their spending habits.

5. Investment management

Financial software provides a wide range of advantages in investment management. The spectrum of use cases ranges from storing historical market data down to the millisecond scale to using that data for deep technical and fundamental analysis.

For the last two decades, there has also been a growing trend toward offloading investment decision-making to smart algorithms unaffected by emotional biases and lapses of judgment. While fully automated investment management bots exist, less drastic automation helps augment the capabilities of experienced financial managers by informing strategy creation and precisely executing entry and exit strategies.

6. Loan origination

Financial software can streamline the entire loan origination process, from streamlining the loan application process for borrowers to finalising the disbursal of funds. Most notably, tried and tested algorithms can reduce the complexity of the decision-making process loan institutions need to employ when weighing whether to approve or reject a loan application and deciding how much credit to make available to the borrower.

7. Financial reporting

Accurate financial reporting is central to many organisations and industry sectors. Dedicated software tools enable accurate and consistent reporting to help streamline operations and measure financial health. In addition, reporting software can help businesses meet their industry and government obligations.

While financial reporting tools vary widely in functionality, modern software is well-equipped to track spending, analyse balance sheets, report business income, and satisfy compliance obligations.

Key benefits of financial software development

Financial software can offer a range of benefits to your organisation. It can positively impact everything from everyday cash flow to operational decisions and long-term investments.

Financial services software development can offer you the following benefits:

• Improved operational efficiency – dedicated software tools can help you manage information and streamline processes in a world of big data and constant connectivity. You can integrate many systems your company uses daily through software, from invoicing and billing to online payments, expense management, and bank reconciliation.
  As your business expands over time and your financial data grows more complex, these services become even more critical. Financial software development can tailor solutions to your specific situation and make them scalable for improved business efficiency.
• Tighter control and integration – software offers your organisation an unprecedented level of control over financial data. Long paper trails are a recipe for disaster, especially when you lose track of your money flow or fail to identify relationships between different aspects of your business.
  Financial software can handle these issues for you by cleaning up data for better visibility and allowing information to flow seamlessly between systems. Additionally, software is the obvious solution when you need to find patterns between income and expenses or consolidate data sets for financial reports.
• Additional trainings and support – different products require extra trainings and support for before users learn how to use them. This added complexity could result in increased costs for the enterprise when it comes to training resources and ongoing support.
• Enhanced customer experience – software development is an effective way to boost customer satisfaction rates across your business. Depending on the core services you deliver, this can take many forms. For example, users may interact with banking websites, cash flow apps, and financial reporting software on the same day. Regardless of the specific value you provide, creating user-friendly software is a great way to promote loyalty and build repeat business.
• Better security and risk management – the financial industry can't afford to compromise when it comes to data security and user privacy. To inspire trust with customers, financial service providers need to provide a consistent user experience built on robust security standards. Various technologies are available to boost security, from continuous threat monitoring to two-factor authentication, network safety, and incident response plans. When you adopt such measures, your business is less likely to experience security gaps and more able to respond to threats.

Challenges and opportunities

Creating software products and services creates endless opportunities for growth and development in the financial sector. The widespread adoption of financial software can also be challenging, however, especially when it comes to the issues of data security and regulatory compliance.

• Data security and privacy

Comprehensive data security requires a multi-pronged approach. To ensure data security during software development, developers must follow best practices and adhere to proven industry frameworks. During the development and testing phase, financial institutions must always protect the integrity of their code. Conducting comprehensive security reviews early and frequently and integrating security features into the code from the outset is essential.

To protect working systems and end-users, companies need to utilise a variety of monitoring, education, authentication, and response techniques. Financial applications can be secured in many ways, with innovative blockchain- and AI-powered systems continuing to gain traction among more traditional fraud detection methods.

User privacy is a related issue, with the proliferation of online financial services continuing to challenge institutions as they navigate issues of accessibility and identity.

• Regulatory compliance

Security demands flow through to compliance, with regulatory obligations surrounding data and privacy affecting the entire financial sector. There are many important issues to consider, from data hosting and communication to user privacy and authentication.

Compliance is a particular issue for mobile app development, with legal differences between jurisdictions making this subject rather complex. Among other things, service providers need to review their legal status alongside the availability of authorised capital and licenses and the specifics of taxation and reporting.

Emerging technology trends in finance industry

The financial sector continues to be shaped by emerging technology trends. More than other sectors, how it responds to these trends will influence the shape, scale and speed of product development in future years.

Technological impact on financial services

The evolution of financial products and service delivery standards heavily depends on software development. All financial entities are affected by technological changes, from global banking and investment institutions to local accountants and insurance providers.

Banking

Banks use various financial services software, from accounting applications to customer relationship management, advanced analytics, and accounts payable automation tools. Along with specific tools, banks will likely see the increased adoption of AI technologies for fraud detection, customer service, and customer profiling applications.

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Investment management

Investment management firms continue to adopt software tools for all aspects of portfolio management. The investment sphere utilises various software tools, from off-the-shelf accounting packages to specialised trading, loan origination and servicing, crowdfunding, and investment management applications.

Accounting

Accounting has long been dependent on software packages, with professionals and individuals able to access a variety of desktop and cloud-based tools. Commercial accounting software has wide-ranging functionality, from basic invoicing and billing to payment tracking, payroll management, credit card transactions, and finance management.

Insurance

The insurance field utilises various insurance agency management software packages. Code-based solutions are fundamental to the modern insurance landscape, from fully-featured accounting applications to AI-powered customer and risk profiling tools. Dedicated insurance planning tools provide end-to-end services based on information gathering, risk analysis, and compliance controls.

The future of financial services software development

The financial landscape heavily depends on developing and utilising software tools. From cloud computing and big data to AI and blockchain technologies, future finance will be built on a unique collection of automated and innovative software solutions. Financial services software will continue to grow in functionality, bringing together diverse services and enabling better decisions through the power of information.