#bfsi testing

One of the reasons why digital transactions using mobile devices have become such a rage is their convenience in handling financial payments. Whether it is the paying of utility bills, doing online shopping, booking movie or airline tickets, or paying for the tickets in a concert, app-driven financial transactions are here to stay. At the core of such services are the financial applications, which manage processes having an interface with money. These applications store, manage, process, or analyze financial data and information. Since so much is underpinned on the successful functioning of these applications, financial application testing becomes critical. And with cybercrime rearing its ugly head every now and then, the stakes are really high. If statistics are to be believed then around 4.1 billion data breaches were reported in 2019 and 71% of them were motivated by financial gains (Source: Varonis). No wonder the global spending on cybersecurity is expected to touch a humongous $133.7 billion by 2022 (Source: Gartner.)

So, with financial applications becoming complex and multi-layered, cybercriminals too have upped their ante. They are using new methodologies and technologies to hack into such systems and steal sensitive data. It appears they are one step ahead of the law enforcers unless, of course, testing financial applications is made an integral part of the development of such software. A multi-tier financial application allows concurrent user sessions to a large number of users. Further, it is integrated with various APIs of third-party applications, regulatory websites, trading accounts, and payment gateways, among others. Since so many integrations generate complex workflows and value chains, they are needed to be tested rigorously. So, when it comes to testing financial applications, factors like performance and security are critical. As a greater number of customers are using financial applications for making transactions on the go, Fintech companies are looking to set up secure platforms to deliver superior customer experiences.

Factors to consider while testing financial apps

Financial services testing should follow an end-to-end methodology to test various aspects such as Business requirements and banking workflows, Functional testing, Security testing, Data accuracy and integrity, Concurrency, Performance testing, & User experience.

·       Business involvement: The test specialists should collaborate with the business analysts and other stakeholders to understand the business requirements of the application. The collaboration or interaction could be with several subject matter experts within the organization as the application might have integrations with other domains. For example, a financial application may have integrations with segments such as bill payments, credit cards, loan payments/disbursal, trading, and transfers, among others. The business requirements and deliverables ought to be analyzed by specialists testing financial applications, development leads, and business analysts to obtain optimal testing results.

·       Domain understanding: Given the various domain interfaces of a financial application, the test specialists should understand and possess adequate knowledge about them. The knowledge could be about the type and scope of testing - UI, security, load, stress, or functionality or aspects like brokerage, working procedures, or banking, among others. The testers by knowing the respective domains can write better test cases and simulate user actions to obtain better test results.

·       Impact analysis: It is about analyzing how the changes made to the application can impact other aspects of the application. This calls for a calibrated regression testing involving automation. This way the team authorized to conduct BFSI testing can identify the affected areas of the application and get them fixed. Here, the application is tested selectively by reusing the already executed test cases.

·       Functional testing: This type of banking application testing exercise requires access to all source codes and architecture to identify and fix glitches and vulnerabilities. The typical test activities comprise preparation and review of test cases and their execution. The testing includes application testing, integration testing, regression testing, and user acceptance testing.

·       Security testing: Usually financial application security testing is conducted at the end of both functional and non-functional testing. However, with cybercrime raising its ugly head every now and then, security testing cannot be left or considered as ‘just another type of testing.’ In fact, according to DevSecOps, it should be the responsibility of every sinew, process, function, or department of an organization. So, apart from looking at the resident vulnerabilities and glitches, the testing should ensure the application adheres to the industry regulations related to security like PCI.

·       Performance testing: As more people are using such applications, they need to be tested for load and stress thresholds. It will help make the application robust, scalable, and resilient thereby ensuring better load management.

Conclusion

The growth of the digital economy has led to an increased use of banking apps by customers to carry out day to day financial transactions. These include checking account balance, paying utility bills, purchasing goods from eCommerce stores and money transfer. However, experience has shown that not everyone is comfortable using the banking apps for security reasons. Yes, the Damocles sword that every customer fears given the spread of viruses, malware and incidences of criminals siphoning off money from bank accounts.

Moreover, cyber criminals are devising new ways of social engineering to hoodwink customers into parting with their sensitive banking information. Does this ring the alarm bells amongst customers and a frown on the foreheads of people associated with the banking industry?

There is a crying need to promote the use of banking apps given their convenience, utility and the role in optimizing the cost of banking operations. In a competitive digital economy, people switching onto online transactions is a welcome sign. It helps the banks to optimize their workforce and win the competitive edge. The only way to achieve the above mentioned objectives is by making your banking application market proof.

In other words, your banking application should be robust, scalable and secure enough to incorporate future technological changes and address cyber threat challenges. Let’s discuss the five ways in which your banking application can become market proof.

#1 Make the app crash-proof: Your banking app can crash due to a number of reasons primarily from an increased traffic load or cyber threat. To start with, there should be a greater funding for cyber security measures and cooperation among banks, regulators and other stakeholders. The banking application testing should be rigorous and in tune with the latest methodologies like Agile, SAFe and DevOps. Each and every code should undergo quality assurance and testing during the development period.  

The features and functionalities of the app should be tested for their stated outcomes through test automation. Moreover, instead of the hacker taking advantage of the loopholes existing in your banking app, the banking application testing team should penetrate the app to check for glitches. The penetration attack can be executed either through a public Wi-Fi network or any other existing network. The banking application security testing should include testing under slow networks to validate the stability and functionality of the app. The other areas to check for making your banking application crash proof are memory management and device compatibility.

#2 Multi level authentication feature: To ensure a greater security of your banking app, it should have a multi-level authentication feature. Even though it might impact the usability of the app to a certain extent, it makes it difficult for the hacker to break into subsequent layers. Remember! A single tier user authentication feature can be easily broken into by the cyber criminals. Hence, the authentication feature should incorporate features like OTPs or fingerprints to add another security layer. Moreover, incorporate features like sending a text alert or an email to the customer the moment an online activity takes place. These can notify the customer of any misuse of his or her account and prevent fraud.

#3 Device compatibility: The banking apps should undergo compatibility testing across devices, platforms, operating systems and networks. This is a prerequisite to enhance the user experience by validating the app’s user interface, loading and processing speed, and navigability. Since it might not be feasible to validate the testing of the app on every possible device configuration, you should prioritize quality assurance and testing on popular devices.

#4 Mobile Centre of Excellence: Since the banking app will ultimately be used by your employees not to speak of the customers, their feedback should be taken into consideration. So, instead of making the whole designing and testing phase IT driven, the views of stakeholders should be incorporated. It is better to create a Mobile Centre of Excellence to pool resources by people associated with mobile security, developers, and QA for easy access.

#5 Better data integration: The banking app should integrate disparate and unstructured customer data to facilitate better decision making. They can do so by using robust software development tools and APIs to garner better customer visibility and provide timely product updates.

Conclusion

The software testing of banking apps ensures their scalability, functionality, usability and security across platforms and hardware configurations. Also, given the growing cybercrime threats, strengthening the security provisions and adhering to the guidelines set by regulators go a long way in creating customer trust and reducing frauds.