UX Design for Fintech: Key Trends and Best Practices

In fintech, good UX is a must. Whether you’re building a challenger bank or a niche lending platform, poor design can mean lost conversions, broken trust, and frustrated users who never come back. Over the past few years, our design team has worked hands-on with fintech products — from KYC onboarding flows to interactive notification systems. 

This article is about what actually works in UX design for fintech. I describe the UX design practices we’ve applied, tested, and improved in real fintech apps. If you’re hiring a designer or scoping a new feature set, here’s what to keep in mind. 

Design notifications carefully

In fintech applications, notifications are the key part of the service. They guide users through transactions, confirm important actions, communicate risk, and occasionally serve as marketing tools. But without a clear communication structure, they can just as easily become noise. 

Done right, notification design builds trust, encourages action, and helps reduce customer support load. Here’s how we approach it in real-world projects.

Start with visibility

Before a notification can inform or reassure, it needs to be seen. One of the first fintech UX decisions we’ve made for a challenger bank client was placing the Notification Center button in a location that has always been accessible but never intrusive — typically the top-right corner of the home screen.

 

 

Design the message structure

Notifications should be scannable and structured. We worked with the bank’s marketing team to standardize each message with:

• Image (optional but helpful): to add visual context — for example, a card icon for payment updates or a warning sign for account alerts.

• Title: a short, high-clarity line that tells users exactly what happened.

• Body text: a sentence or two explaining what the user needs to know or do.

This format makes it easy for users to understand both promotional and transactional messages at a glance.

Don’t bury the action

In Notification Details, we go one step further. Every actionable message includes:

• A clear call-to-action (CTA): like “View Statement,” “Update Info,” or “Get Support.”

• Additional context: when needed, we provide short explainer copy or link to deeper information so users don’t feel left guessing.

This combination reduces friction and ensures that each notification supports the user’s next step. 

Respect users' attention

Users should feel informed, not overwhelmed. To prevent fatigue:

• We allowed bulk marking as “read” to reduce clutter.

• Important messages are prioritized using logic based on user behavior and system triggers (e.g., a failed payment takes precedence over a promotional push).

• We avoid redundant alerts — e.g., if a user has just completed an action, we don’t need to notify them about it seconds later.

Thoughtful notification design is a core part of how fintech software communicates trust, reduces support load, and guides users through key moments. 

Communicate interactively

Fintech apps don’t have to feel transactional — they can be dynamic, personal, and enjoyable to use. Interactive fintech app design helps create that experience, particularly when user intention remains the priority for the design team. 

Microinteractions

Good interactivity isn’t just for new features — it’s a part of everyday navigation. We often implement:

• Progress bars in onboarding or savings goals to create a clear sense of movement and completion.

• Swipe gestures on transaction history for actions like "Repeat Payment" or "Flag as an Issue."

• Animated confirmations — for instance, a subtle checkmark animation after a successful transfer reassures users without interrupting their flow.

These elements of fintech UX design reduce ambiguity, make the experience feel responsive, and keep users oriented as they move through tasks.

Stories-like functionality

Feature education doesn’t have to rely on dense tooltips or static banners. In one project, we have introduced an interactive story-based format to make new functionality easier to discover. 

We’ve used a familiar story interface, borrowing it from the Instagram model. Each story belonged to a specific category — like “What’s New,” “Deposits,” or “Card Features” — and was marked with a bright ring when there was something new to view. The content itself was animated using Lottie files or short videos, making it easy to communicate visually without overloading the screen with text.

To close the feedback loop, we added lightweight rating buttons (👍 / 👎) to each story. This gave the product team direct insight into which features users were curious about — and which ones they ignored. 

Feedback-driven communication

Interactive fintech design also gives users a way to speak back. In addition to feedback on stories, we often integrate:

• Quick polls after new feature launches.

• Inline tooltips where users can rate the usefulness of explanations or walkthroughs.

Each touchpoint helps teams learn what resonates — and what gets ignored — without needing to send out a formal survey. 

Overall, interactive design turns passive users into active participants — making fintech apps not only more intuitive, but more trusted and enjoyable to use. 

Build security and trust

When users log in to a fintech app, they’re entrusting the bank with their financial security. A confusing verification step or a vague security prompt can be all it takes for a user to close the app and not come back. 

Security in fintech product design is the baseline for user confidence. But how that security is delivered can make or break the experience. Fintech user experience should strike a careful balance: it must protect users and clearly show that protection in action. 

3D Secure

Every bank implements 3D Secure flows — what sets the good ones apart is how intuitive they feel. In our work, we designed a dual-option flow for authentication during online payments: users can choose between SMS confirmation or in-app approval. The app auto-detects the customer via card number and securely pulls up the transaction details (merchant, amount, timestamp) — so there are no surprises at the confirmation step. This element of banking UX design makes the authentication feel less like a roadblock and more like a transparent safety measure. 

Biometric login

Biometrics offer a fast way to log in, but they only work if the basics are right. We make sure biometric login is only available after a user sets a primary password — that’s non-negotiable. Then, we design around platform differences: for iOS, it’s straightforward (FaceID or TouchID). On Android, devices may have both — so we offer a biometrics choice, giving users control over how they authenticate while keeping the flow smooth and secure.

Local verification methods and real-time liveness checks

In markets like Ukraine, fintech products often integrate Diia, the national e-government app, to verify user identity. Similarly, in Estonia, people normally authorize with Smart-ID, a widely used digital identity service. This makes it essential for the UX designers to research the market they are working for to find the most convenient authorization flows. 

However, in some cases like opening an account or resetting credentials, it may also not be enough to use a single authorization method. 

In our case, after a Diia authorization, we receive a static image of the user — but that’s not enough to guarantee it’s really them holding the phone. That’s where we add a Liveness flow: the app asks the user to blink, smile, or turn their head while a real-time camera feed verifies they’re a live person. This active liveness detection protects against spoofing and adds an essential trust layer in high-risk flows. 

Overall, with thoughtful UX design, fintech apps can guide users through verification flows that are not only safe — but intuitive, reassuring, and adapted to local norms.

Make onboarding user-friendly

Mobile onboarding in fintech can be complex due to regulatory requirements, but it’s also your first chance to build trust and explain value without exhausting the user.

In our case, the previous fintech app design caused too many users to drop off before completing onboarding, especially if it felt too long, unclear, or overly technical. That’s why our approach focuses on clarity and gentle recovery — making the process feel friendly for new users. 

How we designed onboarding for real-world behavior

We looked at how users actually interact with onboarding. Based on that, we made the following UX improvements:

• Drop-off recovery screens
  If a user leaves the app for an extended period (say, 1+ hour), we return them to a contextual screen that explains what’s next — whether they were about to upload a photo, sign a document, or complete a form. This reduces confusion and prevents duplicate actions.

• Progress visibility
  A clear progress bar shows how many steps are left and what’s coming up. We’ve found this lowers perceived complexity and keeps users moving.

• Step-by-step questionnaire blocks
  Instead of overwhelming users with a long form, we split the questionnaire into smaller, focused segments. Each screen has just one clear task, which helps reduce friction and errors — especially on mobile.

• Smart routing for incomplete flows
  If the app is closed mid-process, we trigger push notifications reminding users to complete onboarding — or redirect them to support if they’re stuck. For example:

• Forgot the password? Sent to the contact center.

• Tech issue after signature? Offered an alternative path.

• Documents rejected? Prompt to contact a bank branch.

So, instead of a linear, one-size-fits-all journey, we have built an adaptive onboarding flow — one that adjusts to user behavior, recovers drop-offs intelligently, and makes KYC feel like part of the experience. 

Create informative dashboards

A good analytics dashboard informs, guides, and helps users make better financial decisions. 

In fintech apps, dashboards often include features like spending summaries, budget trackers, and income breakdowns. But too often, they get cluttered with raw data and lack of context. Here are the fintech UX design principles that make analytics dashboards actually usable — and valuable — to real people.

Start with a question. 

Most users don’t open a finance app because they’re curious — they open it with a goal:

“Where did my money go this month?”
“Why is my balance lower than expected?”
“Am I sticking to my budget?”

Design dashboards to answer those questions first. Prioritize the “big picture” with clear labels like “Total Spend This Month”, “Biggest Expense Category”, or “Left in Budget.” Then let users explore the details if they want to.

Categorization is the key. 

Grouping expenses by category is useful only when users can actually understand and trust the grouping. Best practices include:

• Auto-categorize + manual correction: Start with AI-driven tagging (e.g. “Groceries,” “Transport”) but let the users reassign if needed.

• Group by relevance: Allow filters like "Fixed vs Variable", "Essential vs Non-Essential", or "Subscriptions" — not just generic merchant types.

• Show category impact visually: Use bar or donut charts to show relative spend per category, ideally with interactive hover/tap states that give more info.

Comparison drives insight.

Raw numbers are rarely meaningful on their own. Add context:

• Show month-over-month trends (e.g. “You spent 18% more on food than last month”).

• Highlight anomalies (e.g. “Your average transport spending is usually $50, but this month it’s $140.”)

• Let the users compare custom date ranges (e.g. before/after vacation, pre/post new job).

Overall, a well-designed analytics dashboard turns financial data into daily value. It doesn’t just visualize spending — it helps users understand their habits, anticipate issues, and make smarter decisions without friction. 

Final thoughts

The best UX design for fintech shows users exactly what they need to do, when they need to do it — and makes sure they trust every step.

We’ve seen firsthand how:

• clear error messages reduce support tickets 

• good onboarding improves completion rates

• well-placed notifications save customers from missed payments. 

Looking to uncover what’s working (and what’s not) in your current flow? We offer UX audits and hands-on fintech UX design based on what we’ve seen succeed across real products and real users.