How Much Does It Costs to Build a Mobile Banking App Like Triodos?

In this modernized financial environment, ethical banking has been established as a notable presence because of the increasing consumer demand for sustainability, transparency, and positive social impacts from the financial transactions. This evolution is fueled by the increased awareness of how financial choices can influence the environment as well as the society, which has increased the surge in the appeal of banking institutions. 

Exploring the forefront of ethical banking, institutions like Triodos have pioneered the fusion of advanced banking services with unwavering commitments to environmental and social causes. This approach has captivated a growing demographic of socially conscious consumers and is reshaping the contemporary banking landscape in the digital era.

As businesses seek to cater to this burgeoning market by crafting mobile banking applications that echo the ethos and functionalities of industry leaders like Triodos, it’s imperative to grasp the substantial investment involved. To provide a snapshot, the cost to build a mobile banking app akin to Triodos can range from $30,000 to $500,000.

In this blog, we’ll delve into the intricacies of mobile banking app development costs resembling Triodos. Moreover, we’ll dissect the myriad features integral to crafting a robust ethical banking app and much more. So, without delay, let’s embark on this insightful journey into the realm of mobile banking costs and the cost to build a mobile banking app focused on ethical banking.

Understanding the Sustainable Banking Model of Triodos Bank

Triodos Bank is a beacon of sustainability, fully committed to practices that uphold environmental, social, and cultural values. With a mission centered on leveraging money for positive change, the bank channels its focus into three core themes: Environmental, Cultural, and Social. Understanding the cost to build a mobile banking app is crucial for developing an app that aligns with these values.

At its core, Triodos envisions an economy in harmony with nature, operating within the constraints of our planet’s boundaries. This vision resonates with customers who prioritize impact, drawn to the bank’s unwavering dedication to fostering positive change. By investing in projects that benefit both the environment and society, Triodos showcases the viability of green investments, demonstrating that sustainability can yield financial rewards.

Triodos Bank’s sustainable banking model underscores the imperative for businesses to acknowledge the growing demand for sustainability. Through its steadfast support of organizations driving positive societal, environmental, and cultural shifts, Triodos has carved out a distinctive niche that increasingly appeals to consumers. This strategic alignment caters to individuals who seek both impactful investments and financial returns, highlighting the practicality of environmentally conscious ventures.

Reports indicate a robust trajectory for the global sustainable finance market, which was valued at $3650 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $22485.6 billion by 2031, growing at a remarkable CAGR of 20.1% from 2022 to 2031. This surge is fueled by heightened investments in businesses committed to sustainable practices, reflecting a shifting paradigm towards responsible financial stewardship.

Therefore, this is the right time to take one step closer to the ecological footprint and develop a similar banking app like Triodos, which will easily help in positioning your business in this competitive landscape of the sustainable banking movement. This offers both financial benefits and societal benefits, with an understanding of the cost of mobile banking being crucial for success.

How Much Does it Cost to Develop an App Like Triodos?

Creating a sustainable banking app akin to Triodos necessitates a substantial investment, typically ranging from $30,000 for a basic Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to a more comprehensive $500,000 for a fully-fledged production app. The ultimate cost hinges on various factors such as feature complexity, customization level, platform diversity, integrations, security demands, team size, and maintenance requirements.

At the baseline, crafting and launching an initial iOS or Android app with essential features can amount to roughly $30,000 to $150,000. Yet, expanding to encompass major mobile platforms and facilitating ongoing development of additional functionalities and integrations may escalate costs to $300,000 to $500,000. Notably, expenses tend to be higher for established banks managing sensitive customer data compared to startup MVPs.

The development expenses to build a banking app like Triodos are contingent upon several factors, including feature intricacy, customization extent, platform diversity, integrations, security prerequisites, team composition, and ongoing support necessities. Let’s delve into some of these factors that influence the cost of sustainable banking app development.

Factors Impacting the Cost of Building an App Like Triodos

When it comes to developing an app like Triodos, there are several key factors that play a very significant role in affecting the overall mobile banking costs to build the app. Let’s have a look into all these factors that directly impact mobile banking cost and sustainable banking app development costs:

1. Complexity and Customizations

The intricacy of features and functionalities directly impacts the development time and resources needed, thereby elevating the cost of creating a Triodos-like app. Tailoring highly customized apps to your brand entails greater expenses compared to building a basic app from the ground up.

For instance, integrating advanced features such as AI, augmented reality, or seamless system integration introduces complexity, consequently driving up costs. Furthermore, the degree of customization in designs, workflows, and features tailored to your brand significantly influences the overall price tag.

2. Number of Platforms and Devices

Is your app available on Android, iOS, or both? The overall app development cost is raised by supporting development, testing, and updates on multiple platforms and devices. The users get a wider reach across the customer base by covering both major mobile operating systems. But, the initial development and ongoing maintenance have to to accounted for this. 

3. Third-Party Integrations

Integrating third-party systems, like APIs, databases, or different payment gateways involves ongoing maintenance and additional development, which helps in increasing the bottom line. For example, creating payment infrastructures to link your credit card processors, impacts the overall app development cost of Triodos. 

4. Security Requirements

The financial service app handles sensitive user data of its users, and it’s their responsibility to protect all that information. By doing different tests and adding different engineering resources and time to the process. Different features like data encryption, biometric authentication, and fraud monitoring require significant development. For this the robust overheads but it is non-negotiable for the financial apps. 

5. Teams and Location

The development team size and the location of these development teams play a major role in impacting the cost to build a banking app like Triodos. North America has the highest-paid developers, followed by Western Europe, and the UK is in the middle category, and Indian developers cost the least per hour. It is quite obvious that a team with more people will complete the task in a shorter duration, but they will also charge more compared to others. The cost of your project will depend on the number of developers, testers, project managers, and designers needed to complete the project.

This table gives you a visual representation of the average hourly rates of the developers across different regions:

Region	Hourly Rate of Development
UAE	$65 – $70
US	$100 – $110
Western Europe	$90 – $100
Australia	$60 – $100
Eastern Europe	$60 – $70
Asia	$30 – $45

Let’s now quickly look into the hourly rates of different resources of a well-defined development team:

Resource	Hourly Rate (Approx.)
Project Manager	$30
Tech Lead (Backend/Frontend)	$35.12
Sr. Mobile App App Developer	$28.91
Sr. Web and Backend Developer	$28.91
DevOps	$28.75
Business Analytics	$25.30
UX/UI	$25.03
QA	$25.30

Features to Create an App Like Triodos 

Based on the functionality of the real Triodos app, there are some of the important features that are required to build an app like Triodos. By giving deep functionality across these major mobile banking categories, you can fulfill and satisfy all the needs of the essential users seamlessly. It is very important to focus on the core features of an MVP approach. Let’s discuss some of the different tripod app features in detail:

1. User Account Management

With the help of user account management, an easy signup flow within the app is created, for easy signup flow. The support secure login via biometrics such as fingerprints, and facelocks, provides quick access. User account management includes the ability for the users to easily view their account profile with all the essential personal information, identity documents, card details, account numbers, and more in the dashboard view. This also allows seamless account updates and security setting management. 

2. Balance Checking

The dashboard should always display the real-time updated available funds and balance across all the accounts of the users and cards in one similar view. Easy toggling between the accounts for individual balance checks and quick top-level insights is essential when you build a banking app. The balance checking also provides all the current, pending, and available balance snapshots to its users.

3. Transaction History

Customers need to have full visibility into the previous transactions and the account activity. The transaction history provides search and advanced filtering of the translation history by date, category, amount, and different categories involved. The support provides the capabilities to the external files for analyzing the data smoothly. The transaction history displays both the pending and posted transactions with clear indicators.  

4. Money Transfer

Money transfer ensures secure domestic and international transfers between the user’s account and the recipient’s account. Money transfer supports recurring transfers and future-dated transactions for setting up the repeating payment option. This also provides transfer status notification and tracking, and this offers easy person-to-person transfer by either mobile number or email. 

5. Bill Payments

Customers should manage all the bill payments completely within the app. One-time support and recurring payments for the existing and new payees manually or by linking to the biller accounts. This facilitates the auto-categorization of bills for tracking all the progress related to the bills. This also provides reminders for upcoming bills and payment confirmations. 

6. Deposit Checks

Apps like Triodos allow users to deposit paper checks in their account by just taking one picture with their smartphone cameras within the app. The app should auto-detect the check amount and also guide to the position of the amount, contributing to the ease and cost of mobile banking.

7. Card Management 

The card management gives the users full control over the payment card within the app. This also allows the permanent or temporary blocking of cards in case the card is stolen or lost, the spending limit can also be set according to the customer’s needs, and the usage alert is also given to the user in case the user has overused the card or is not using the card for a quite long time.

8. Alerts and Notifications

The alerts and notifications allow the robust configuration of real-time alerts for payments, transactions, account changes, approaching limits, customer support, suspicious activity, and marketing. The alerts and notifications allow support configuration push, email, and in-app notifications. 

9. Biometric Authentication

Facial recognition or the use of fingerprints or facial recognition are the primary login methods, which allow fast and secure account access. By minimizing the friction, while maximizing the account security- prompt fingerprints re-confirmation for sensitive actions. 

10. Contact Support

By providing multiple self-service help options such as FAQ’s, context-sensitive tips, and searchable user guides, you can enhance the user experience while managing the cost of mobile banking. Offering 24/7 access to live chats, messaging, and phone contact with customer support agents within the app further improves customer satisfaction and support efficiency.

11. ATM Locator

With the help of the ATM locator, the users can conveniently find nearby in-network ATMs on the maps and also get the directions to reach there. Important key details like fees, supported transactions, and accessibility are also displayed. Based on the usage, the favorites can be saved for quick access. If the users are facing any issue, they can immediately report the issue, so that the issue can be solved and the ATM networks are updated timely. 

12. E-Wallet Integration

By integrating popular mobile e-wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, it easily allows the activation of digital card versions. The transactions that are made from the mobile wallets appear in the overall card activity. The limit set can be easily managed, within the banking app, and the card controls like freezers and limits can be easily managed within the banking app. The e-wallet enables fast checkouts via contactless tap-to-pay methods.  

13. Cardless Withdrawal

By generating single-use codes for added security and convenience, cardless cash withdrawals can be initiated directly from the app. Users have the option to set the amount, expiration, and delivery methods for codes to complete ATM transactions on the physical card. Biometrics such as fingerprints can also be added at the ATM’s. With the help of status notifications, the users are informed of the withdrawals and also get updates when they are completed. 

How to Develop a Mobile Banking App Like Triodos?

Mobile banking app development such as Triodos, matches the features and quality of Triodos which requires careful planning, development, design, testing, and optimization. By working on these best industry-provided best practices, you can easily create an exceptional mobile experience.

Let’s go through the key steps that make a successful app like Triodos. 

1. Conduct Market and Competition Research

Comprehensive market and competitor research is crucial for gaining a deep understanding of your target audience, including their needs, behaviors, pain points, and aspirations. Utilize methods such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups to directly gather insights from users.

Conduct a thorough analysis of competitor offerings to pinpoint gaps, opportunities, and unique features. Stay informed about global mobile app trends and innovations to implement best practices. Based on the gathered insights, articulate a clear value proposition and positioning for your app.

2. Create Detailed Requirements and Specifications

Crafting comprehensive requirements and specifications documents serves as the roadmap for engineering teams, ensuring efficient app development to meet specifications. Detail every planned feature, user workflow, transaction type, custom scenario, and integration needed. Utilize wireframes to illustrate key screens and user journeys effectively.

Specify target platforms and devices, backend architecture, security measures, and style guidelines, aligning them with technical and business needs. This detailed documentation enables developers to accurately estimate timelines and gather the necessary resources and skills.

3. Set-Up Robust Backend Infrastructure

Creating a solid backend infrastructure is essential for delivering seamless mobile experiences. Develop secure and scalable servers and databases that prioritize performance, uptime, and redundancy failover. Establish reusable APIs to bridge front-end mobile apps with core backend services such as account management, transactions, and analytics.

Ensure seamless integration with banking systems, payment networks, verification services, and other necessary platforms via secure connections. Implement robust security measures including encryption, access controls, activity monitoring, and other best practices to safeguard user data and ensure confidentiality.

4. Design Intuitive, User-Friendly Interfaces

Crafting intuitive and user-friendly interfaces specifically for mobile devices is crucial for boosting adoption and engagement. Map out main workflows, screens, and navigation through wireframing to streamline user journeys for ease of use.

Create visual designs that adhere to brand style guidelines, prioritizing usability principles such as clear information hierarchy, impactful calls-to-action, and easily digestible layouts. Validate and refine designs through usability testing on prototypes, incorporating real user feedback to enhance overall user experience.

5. Develop and Rigorously Test Front-End App

To develop the front-end app, it’s essential to assemble skilled specialist teams for iOS, Android, and responsive web development, working concurrently within an agile framework. Thoroughly test code throughout the development process, employing unit, integration, and regression testing automation to uphold quality standards. Conduct comprehensive functional testing to verify end-to-end functionality before release, promptly addressing any bugs or issues to maintain product integrity.

6. App Store Submission and Approval

Submitting polished apps for App Store review necessitates adherence to platform policies, UI/UX guidelines, and regulatory requirements. Prepare marketing assets and descriptive listing content for optimal discoverability. Allocate adequate time for review and potential iteration cycles. Coordinate simultaneous launch across all targeted app stores.

7. Performance Tracking KPIs

Tracking performance KPIs facilitates data-driven decision-making regarding app enhancements. Identify key metrics such as engagement, active users, retention cohorts, feature usage, and conversions. Monitor app store ratings and user feedback closely to identify areas for improvement in onboarding, retention, and user satisfaction.

8. Continuous Enhancements and Support

Sustaining user satisfaction and driving continued growth entails providing ongoing enhancements and robust support. Plan regular releases incorporating new features based on market feedback and trends. Iteratively improve UI/UX through A/B testing and user studies, addressing platform updates, OS changes, and device compatibility. Facilitate user feedback submission for rapid incorporation and offer multi-channel customer support, including self-service options.

How Apps Like Triodos Make Money

Banks like Triodos employ diverse revenue models to support their mission of ethical banking and drive financial success. Below are several monetization strategies commonly utilized by such institutions:

1. Subscription Fees

Offering premium features or services under a subscription model, providing users with access to enhanced functionality for a recurring fee.

2.Transaction Fees

Charging a small fee for each transaction conducted through the app, generating revenue from users’ financial activities.

3. Interest Income

Earning revenue through interest accrued on loans, investments, or savings accounts held by app users.

4. Partnerships and Referrals

Forming partnerships with third-party organizations and earning referral fees or commissions for directing users to their products or services.

5. Advertising

Displaying targeted advertisements within the app, generating revenue from advertisers seeking to reach the app’s user base.

While these strategies contribute to the financial success of apps like Triodos, they also align with the institution’s mission of ethical banking, prioritizing user value and societal impact alongside profitability.

How can DesignersX Help You Tap into the Sustainable Banking Space?

Creating a robust mobile banking experience is pivotal for acquiring and engaging customers while ensuring their satisfaction. The cost of developing a sustainable banking app like Triodos hinges on its complexity and feature set.

However, building a successful and secure mobile banking application demands significant investment, meticulous planning, thorough design, rigorous testing, and ongoing optimization. Collaborating with the right provider is key, ensuring access to top-notch banking app development services that can efficiently bring your vision to fruition.

At DesignersX, we offer comprehensive services encompassing planning, design, development, launch, and support for cutting-edge mobile banking apps. With a proven track record demonstrated by numerous successful fintech projects such as EdFundo and Mudra, we showcase our ability to deliver secure and user-friendly solutions tailored to the evolving needs of the digital finance landscape.

If you’re seeking a financial solution for your organization, reach out to our team today to explore how we can translate your sustainable mobile banking vision into reality. From eco-friendly app development to guidance on reducing operational footprints, our experts specialize in helping banks transition towards sustainability.