Finsfera
Developing a custom, secure platform to simplify loan requests for Finsfera
Building a high-performance platform for microloan requests
Location:
Kyiv, Ukraine
Cooperation model:
Time and Material/ Fixed Price
Industry:
Partnership period:
February 2022 - April 2023
Improvements plan:
Discovery phase, requirements and estimation analysis, prototyping and designing, MVP release
Team size:
4 Full Stack Developers, 2 QA Engineers, 1 DevOps, 1 PM, 1 Tech consultant, 1 Business Analyst, 1 Designer
Technologies:
About the client
Finsfera is a startup that has just started its activity in the fintech industry. The company’s main idea is to provide microloans to people in need of financial support. The financial service is an excellent alternative to Ukraine's official banking system, as it allows you to get a micro-loan quickly and without much administrative hassle.
About the product
The company aimed to create a high-performance platform that focuses on providing a perfect customer experience and business growth. All relevant products demand a long procedure of client authentication and tiresome security steps. Thus, the core idea of the project was to make a loan request as easy as possible. The top priority was ensuring security and integrating with the Ukrainian banking system.
Challenges overview
The client came to us with a partially completed project. We were expected to provide improvements and remove lots of manual operations.
Our main tasks were:
- creating a better user experience across the platform
- quick client identification
- network security
- native-like look and feel
- Integration with the Ukrainian bank system.
Without project documentation, we helped validate the idea and quickly adapted to numerous change requests while optimizing feature efficiency.
Initially, we cooperated with the client within the Kanban framework, as it was a perfect match at the initial stages. Scrum methodology was used at the end of the project when the team was able to gather all the project requirements.
Our solution
To simplify the user validation process and cut down the manual work required to validate users, we chose the Bank ID integration, which allows clients to log in with their existing bank accounts. We had to overcome some Bank ID integration challenges as there were not complete instructions for providing integrations. Besides, our software development team faced testing issues to check a person's verification with some banks, which were not so popular among users. Our key goal was to simplify the user flow as much as possible and ensure a high level of security to prevent hacker attacks. How does this flow work?
Optimization of the user flow
The user flow was about 70% complete when the client approached us. Our task was to improve the flow and make the application work smoothly.
User validation
Initially, users manually filled fields and sent passport photos, while administrators manually checked and confirmed applications. To streamline this, we integrated BankID to let users log in with their bank accounts. The system connects with 30+ Ukrainian banks. This reduces human error and automates administrative work.
Admin panel for Finsfera’s owner and staff
An important tool for managing all the applications and tracking users who started but didn’t complete verification, monitoring recurring users, overseeing microfinance loans, handling loan extensions, calculating debts, etc.
Scoring
The integration with the Ukrainian Bureau of Credit Histories ensures access to users’ credit histories to assess their financial reputation. After getting the data, the client sends it to UBCH for a credit score (from 1 to 1000). This score enables automatic application approval or denial, so administrators can only focus on users requiring extra document scoring.
Additional agreements
Once a user is approved for a loan, they receive the contract and can sign it by using a digital signature. It is a great benefit for the user, as there is no need to go to the bank office to get an official approval. In addition, our team also enabled profile filtering for administrators by applications, loans, and client data.
Admin profile
The system combines several tools to simplify loan administration, such as an accrual table for managing the loan life cycle. This table is specifically designed to ensure accurate accounting records are submitted regularly to the National Bank of Ukraine.
Result
We developed the MVP in 9 months. The platform was enriched with essential changes and improvements. The main benefits include:
- Implementation of a quick user application process with an improved verification system.
- Integration with the Ukrainian Bank system for secure and quick client identification.
- Synchronization with the Ukrainian Bureau of Credit Histories for getting an applicant's credit history and reducing financial risks.
- Creation of an effective Admin panel for managing applications and storing user data.
- Development of the Admin profile system to simplify loan administration.
As a result, the MVP reached the market and generated first users that allowed our customer to test their business hypothesis and proceed with further updates.
