Unboxing The Real Cost to Build a Banking App Like Barclays

Key Takeaways

• It is important to understand the true cost of developing a Barclays app by region, tech stack, and specific features to proceed ahead.
• You need to learn the complete digital banking app development lifecycle, from the initial idea to continuing compliance, to move ahead with clarity.
• Always compare the basics, growth, and enterprise-grade banking app building cost.
• You also need to check with the factors that can help you control the costing of developing a mobile bank app like Barclays.
• Check out the must-have features to stand out in fintech app development.

Introduction

Mobile banking software has revolutionized the financial services market, with over 70% of EU internet users now banking digitally. Customers are eager for secure, simple, multi-functional banking experiences, and traditional banks and fintech companies are focusing on building a digital banking application.

But, when it comes to creating a custom mobile solution, it is important to work with innovation and speed, while dealing with unfamiliar cost challenges specifically, when building a banking app like Barclays.

With global fintech investment at an all-time high, understanding the real Barclays like app development cost is critical for leaders to deliver a competitive, compliant, and user-friendly digital E-wallet platform.

This is why we are here to help you with informative data, building costs, and expert advice to make it easy for you to plan a mobile bank app like Barclays without over-committing on the budget or compromising quality. Read on.

How Barclays Stood Out In The Market?

Barclays has set itself a considered leader and example in the area of mobile digital banking innovation. With one of the most popular mobile banking apps in Europe, Barclays delivers a platform to millions of customers who login each month to make payments and transfer and manage their financial household.

Here are the reasons that Barclays is leading the way in this segment, clearly demonstrating why it has earned that reputation:​

• Benchmark of Trust and Speed

The trust and speed of this app is exemplified through its PSD2/SCA compliance, multi-factor authentication login process, real-time payment abilities, and advanced standards for device security. The reputation that Barclays has in making fast transfers while also implementing robust fraud controls matches the expectations of changing EU regulations and of its users. The app continues to produce billions in transactions per month and has also been installed millions of times since from launch.

• Market Activity and Customer Adoption

Having embraced and taken a mobile-first approach from the beginning, Barclays has invested significantly in intuitive interfaces, advanced personal finance tools, and features that are rolled out quickly. Now, on average, a Barclays customer interacts with the mobile banking app 26 times monthly, compared to only a few visits to their branch. Furthermore, the app has set standards for mobile banking software after achieving the BSI Kitemark for secure digital transactions, and also features regular updates for security patches.

• Technology Foundations

The Barclays app provides:

1. Open banking APIs for effortless integrations.
2. EU-population-eligible SEPA credit/instant payments​.
3. Secure SCA flows and device binding for strong compliance.
4. Comprehensive dashboards and money management tools​.

These strong foundations imply that the cost to build a mobile banking app like Barclays is largely driven by the desire to achieve both the same user experience and regulatory depth.

Cost To Build Barclays Like Banking App

Costing by App Complexity

• Basic MVP with Regulation-compliant payments and dashboards: $30,000–$100,000
• Growth Version with Instant payments, card controls, and fraud alerts: $100,000–$180,000
• Enterprise Grade with full Barclays-style, advanced analytics, and multi-language: $180,000–$300,000+ ​

Regional Cost Variations

What Factors Can Affect The Cost?

When developing a budget for your digital banking application, keep these six major drivers in mind:

• Design Entitlement and User Experience

A simple mobile banking app includes just basic functions and costs less, but adding deep localization, wider access, and more visuals increases costs. In fact, supporting multi-languages and complex accessibility standards for regulatory compliance can significantly increase app development cycles and overall costs.

• Complexity of the Backend

Custom API engineering, durable architecture, and additional infrastructure will significantly increase overall development costs involved in features such as instant payments to customers, fraud monitoring, and direct ledger integrations.

• Third Party Services and Integrations

Adding digital Know Your Customer (KYC), card processing, Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and fraud partnership integration for third-party leads to per-user fees, challenging compliance, and further API development.

• Level of Security

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), encryption, device binding, and penetration testing should be assumed; these are necessary business practices for any reputable mobile bank product. Security engineers continuously watch your app, which is also a major fintech app development cost.

• Compliance Burden

GDPR, PSD2, SEPA, and other regulatory frameworks add additional legal obligations, audits, and availability for testing costs. For digital banks, compliance is a continuous investment; it is not finite.

• Team Geography & Labor Economics

Pairing costly Western managerial talent and reasoning with lower-cost Eastern engineering asks for a solid 20-35% overall cost savings, depending on strong process management. Rates and productivity impact vendor risk, and both those things impact the budget for a project​.

• New Technology Alternatives

Elevated potential costs to build a banking app, which may be considered future-proofed value leap AI-based risk engines, predictive analytics, or blockchain payment rails.

Ways You Can Control The Cost Without Compromising Quality

Taking shortcuts in the development of a digital E-wallet application is not a smart approach. Here’s the methodology for taking a more strategic approach to optimizing costs:

1. Bifurcate Features into Phases: You need to begin with features like the digital onboarding, payment, and compliance features. Only expand with instant transfers and analytics based on willingly user adoption and feedback. Make sure to use the voluntary features only from day one.
2. Reduce Focus to Must Haves at Launch: At launch, you don’t need a lot of “nice-to-haves”. Utilities at launch should be lean, market fit should be tested, and you should learn to uptake what the metrics and feedback are telling you to build next.
3. Optimize Tech Stack: Use cross-platform frameworks (like Flutter and/or React Native) for things like dashboards or static flows, but use a strict native build for anything that touches security.
4. Blend Teams, and Maintain Oversight: Consider onshore/outshore for engineering, localization (however you define localization) with tight risk/quality control on your compliance and strategic positions.
5. Start Investing in Building out Your Compliance Design Early: Start with a legal / compliance expert or shoulder to avoid the bad fate of needing to change at the end or waiting too long and delaying what would reasonably be a decent launch plan. Always keep track of other regulatory shifts.

Features That One Must Have In Banking App

A successful application has more than just core banking services. Below are the essential features you must add to your banking app development.

1. Registration & Digital KYC: This feature allows both remote ID verification and automatic anti-fraud checks to be done easily when onboarding.
2. SCA- Secure Login & Payment Authorization: Multi-factor authentication and dynamic payment protection are easy to use and trustworthy, and allow you to meet regulations.
3. Account Overview & Transaction History: Rich dashboards that allow users to see their balances, recent activity, pending transactions, and deep dives into merchant and cross-border details.
4. Instant Euro Payments: Payments that used to take until the next day become instant, and the infrastructure won’t be resistant to the 24/7 environment needed for that type of user journey.
5. Card Freezing & Controls: Let users freeze or unfreeze their cards, spending limits, and quickly flag lost or stolen cards.
6. Fraud Monitoring & Alerts: Smart and predictive systems identify unusual activity and allow for users to act. The goal is to reduce potential fraud and enhance the user experience.
7. Personal Finance Management Tools: Spending insights, goal creation and tracking, budget tracking, and reminders for savings. Can be translated into many languages, demos, and accessibility for all users.

How Can You Make It Better Than Barclays?

It takes creativity and a user-centric mindset to outperform a well-established market leader like Barclays. Below are some essential steps you need to keep in mind to be a step ahead.

• Faster, Simpler Onboarding: You need to make use of smarter document capture (OCR), guided workflows, and progress trackers to cut down on drop-offs and reduce friction.
• Frictionless, but Stronger Authentication: Also, it is essential to Integrate behavioral biometrics and adaptive security questions and challenges to customize protection by risk level, while minimizing user effort, and maximizing security.
• Enhanced Personal Finance Tools: You also need to provide actionable, personalized spending insights, predictive nudges, goal-based savings, and embedded financial literacy content.

Final Takeaway

This shows how the cost to develop a banking app like Barclays varies on various factors. A basic MVP, which meets compliance requirements, would cost $30,000. If you’re looking for more advanced technology solutions at the enterprise level, this could cost $200,000, depending on region, scope, and technology stack.

With clarity about customer priorities, sequencing of features, and representation of a balanced team with a fintech background, your organization could create a ‘world class’ experience to your clients via mobile banking.

If you are looking for a trusted mobile banking app development company, we are here to help you. LL Technolab is a leading custom mobile app development solutions provider across the globe and provides budget-friendly solutions. Reach out, as we can help you achieve your fintech vision!

FAQs

Q1. What is the estimated time to develop a mobile banking application similar to Barclays?
Answer: It takes around 3 to 5 months for a minimum viable product, and 4 to 7 months for a Barclays-level mobile banking application with a high degree of compliance and complex features built into the application.

Q2. What is the expected annual ongoing maintenance costs for a launched mobile banking application?
Answer: Recurring expenses exist in order to remain in compliance and fully secure as it relates to regulatory updates, security tests, and application rollout of new features. This is typically 15-20% of the original build cost of the mobile banking application annually.

Q3. What region provides a cost-efficient approach to developing a digital banking app?
Answer: A hybrid solution to digital banking app development in which the thought leadership, product, team, and compliance are taken care of at Western Europe, and engineering is covered in Central and Eastern Europe will help you in terms of 20-35% cheaper delivery without compromising the quality or compliance assurance. This is where LL Technolab stands out compared to competitors.