#financial application testing

The banking and financial services (BFS) sector is changing. This shift has led to complex, high-volume digital transactions. Demanding reliable systems and high-quality standards is the need of the hour.  

Financial application testing emerges as a critical player in this landscape. It makes BFS organizations resilient, protecting customer data and delivering smooth digital experiences. We’ll look at why it’s essential for a successful digital transformation in the BFS.  

What is the role of financial application testing in BFS  

Mobile banking apps, investment platforms, and digital wallets are examples of financial applications. These apps process sensitive data and handle high-value transactions. That’s why it’s crucial to ensure they operate under various conditions. Financial application testing makes apps capable of handling high traffic and cyber threats. Moreover, service quality or data security is not compromised.  

With the stakes so high, quality assurance through testing is a necessity. It helps identify and address potential issues before they violate regulations. As a result, it safeguards both the organization’s reputation and users’ data.  

Important testing areas in financial applications  

Financial application testing involves a multi-faceted approach. It covers various testing areas specific to the BFS industry’s needs. These are critical testing types that ensure digital transformation initiatives are not disrupted:  

Functional testing  

Ensures each feature of the financial application performs as expected. Tests every function like money transfers, account management, or investment tracking. There are high stakes in banking apps. It is important to avoid potential errors leading to financial or reputational losses.  

Security testing  

Cybersecurity is a top concern for BFS organizations. That's because financial applications are often prime targets for hackers. Security testing identifies vulnerabilities and safeguards applications from potential breaches. This helps to protect sensitive financial information and maintain user trust.  

Performance testing  

Financial applications must operate under heavy user load. Performance testing evaluates how well applications handle holidays or peak times. This ensures they remain responsive and dependable even when transaction volumes soar.  

Compliance testing  

GDPR and PCI DSS list out strict standards for handling financial and personal data. Compliance testing is necessary to adhere to these regulations. It prevents costly fines to protect the organization’s reputation.  

User Acceptance Testing (UAT)  

Financial applications must meet user expectations. UAT allows real users to test the application in real-world scenarios. It provides feedback on usability and experience. This is crucial for customer satisfaction and retention.  

All types of testing are important in the digital transformation journey of BFS. Comprehensive testing satisfies the end-user by strengthening security and ensuring regulatory compliance.  

Benefits of banking and financial application testing services  

Quality testing for BFS digital transformation is not limited to internal testing. Many financial institutions are turning to specialized banking & financial application testing services. Here are some benefits of leveraging these specialized services:  

Industry expertise and knowledge: Banking and financial testing service providers bring extensive knowledge. They understand the nuances of financial applications and the specific challenges. This includes evolving regulations and high cybersecurity standards.  

Comprehensive testing coverage: Testing service providers cover all aspects of quality assurance. This also includes compliance checks. All this ensures the application meets every criterion for success.  

Use of advanced testing tools: Testers use state-of-the-art tools and AI-driven methodologies. This helps streamline testing processes, detect potential issues early, and optimize testing cycles. Doing so results in quicker deployment and fewer post-launch defects.  

Focus on digital innovation: For digital transformation, BFS organizations need top-notch testing services. They need modern technologies such as AI, ML, and blockchain. Proper care ensures this does not compromise application quality.  

BFS organizations can work with experienced providers of financial application testing services. This provides both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. As a result, they can keep their applications secure, scalable, and compliant.  

Understanding these benefits is crucial. BFS organizations face various challenges that need robust testing. 

Testing finance applications to address challenges in BFS industry  

The BFS industry faces challenges that demand specialized approaches to testing finance applications. Here’s how financial application testing helps address them:  

Handling high transaction volumes: Banking apps deal with large volumes of online transactions. Load testing ensures applications manage high traffic without slowdowns. 

Ensuring data security: BFS applications handle sensitive personal and financial data. Security testing tackles vulnerabilities by securing applications from cyberattacks.  

Adapting to regulatory changes: BFS industry has to deal with evolving compliance requirements. Compliance testing is necessary to ensure apps meet regulatory standards. It protects organizations from fines and legal repercussions.  

Supporting new integrations: Digital transformation involves integrating new applications with existing legacy systems. This can create compatibility issues. Financial application testing ensures a smooth transition, identifying integration points.  

Through rigorous testing, financial applications can provide reliable and secure services to end-users.  

Leveraging AI and automation in software testing services for the financial industry  

BFS organizations are leveraging AI and automation for digital transformation, automating repetitive tasks. For this, they are turning to software testing services for the financial industry. These technologies streamline testing processes, reduce costs, and increase accuracy. Here’s how AI and automation are enhancing financial application testing:  

Fast & accurate testing cycles: Automated testing tools run many test cases in parallel. This reduces testing time, minimizing human error. BFS organizations can release updates and new features faster, without sacrificing quality.  

Predictive risk assessment: AI-driven predictive analytics analyze historical data to predict potential failures. This allows proactive risk management. This is useful for BFS institutions where system failures lead to financial losses.  

Enhanced security: AI detects patterns of unusual behavior to signal a security threat. By integrating AI into testing processes, BFS organizations bolster their applications against threats. This helps maintain customer trust and compliance.  

Continuous testing for deployment: Automation enables continuous testing. This helps identify and resolve issues early in the SDLC. It's essential for BFS companies to adopt agile and DevOps practices. They can deploy applications with greater confidence.  

BFS organizations can speed up their digital transformation. This is possible by incorporating AI and automation into financial application testing. 

Future of financial application testing in BFS  

As digital transformation reshapes BFS, robust financial application testing becomes important. The future of testing will involve more AI, machine learning, and automation. This allows precise processes and better handling of complex scenarios and new threats.  

Modern technologies like blockchain and open banking are emerging. Financial application testing will be key to integrating these innovations into current systems. This helps protect data security and meet compliance standards.  

Comprehensive testing solutions for Oracle fusion  

Qualitest provides expert test management for SIT, UAT, and data migration. It does so across Oracle Fusion modules like Procurement, General Ledger, and EPM. 

Make use of the following financial testing capabilities   

Reusable test assets: Oracle Asset Library ensures reusable UAT test cases. This saves effort and maintains standards.  

Defect management: Handles defect triaging and reporting via Azure DevOps.  

Integration testing: Validates integrations such as IBM Sterling OMS with MS Dynamics 365.  

Automation framework: Enables cross-platform testing, CI/CD integration, and reduced coding dependency.  

End-to-end managed services  

We manage testing for migration, integration, operational acceptance, and UAT. These services ensure production stability and superior customer experiences.  

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