First Flutter Banking Application in Europe: Case-Study

About the Client

Rosbank is a universal bank from Russia that is also a member of the Société Générale Group, a global financial group. The bank has a broad customer base, serving over five million private clients, 78,000 from the small business community, and 7,350 from the corporate sector. 

Project Idea – Create a New Mobile App Version for “Rosbank Business” 

Rosbank decided to create a new business app. The bank has adopted the smart bank concept, which suits the client. This makes it possible for clients from different walks of life to benefit from its usefulness. Smart Bank is a complete hub for fixing banking-related problems. 

Any clientele base, such as small and medium-sized businesses, accountants serving small companies on outsourcing, corporation and holdings representatives, should have an easy time using this app. 

The original plan was to carry out the project within the shortest terms possible. The bank did not go for the idea of native development but instead opted for a cross-platform version. We – Surf studio – had to develop the app for iOS and Android, which minimizes the time and cost of the whole task.

A mobile banking app is a major project that needs the involvement of qualified specialists during the whole development project. The team should be made up of Flutter developers, designers, analysts, and quality assurance (QA) experts. All the procedures should be well set up from continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), quality assurance to management.

We had to develop the initial version of a new business app inside an intelligent banking concept framework. Rosbank also wanted to take up the task and proceed with in-house development.

Business Challenges

• Develop the first Russian banking application using Flutter cross-platform technology.
• Merge the app with legacy backend banking services.
• Move users to the new application without registering again.
• Assist the bank in starting Flutter development and move the project for additional in-house development and support.

The Results

Rosbank adopted a new business app with a user-friendly interface and a bright modern design. You can execute all banking operations with several taps. You will also have all the essential information displayed on the main screen. Clients don’t have to carry out a new registration in the app. 

You can include as many companies as you want with this app. This means you can manage the finances of various companies that are unrelated to a single device. Accountants and business owners contracted out with several legal bodies can work hand in hand with multiple companies. The user can monitor information for each organization and the entire holding separately in the holding mode, with only one account. 

Flutter is an ideal solution, which has played an essential role in reducing time and development costs.

The Rosbank Business app was ranked first among mobile apps in the Banking, Finance, and Insurance group in the recent Tagline Awards. This is the top Russian award for interactive tech projects. The awards are usually issued annually for the best digital and most creative, fascinating, top-quality projects.

Testimonials

We developed an excellent platform for modern mobile banking within a short period. We also managed to set up universal mobile banking for companies, useful for small business clients of any magnitude from a small coffee outlet to a top oil company. 

Main Features

• Adaptable Home Screen- Smart banking apps should offer fast access to all the mainly used features. The home screen is more like a dashboard or control panel, which consists of the most popular notifications and services. The app’s initial version allows users to manage accounts, access documents, and invoice history with a few clicks. Upcoming versions will have more features and a home screen suitable for user needs. 
• Easy Access to Documents, Anywhere, Anytime– We have included an important home screen button, which can help Rosbank clients create documents easily. You can easily create an invoice from the start or use a saved template. This is also possible through a repeat feature that is available in three clicks. 
• Access All Your Documents in a Separate Tab– The app has a flex filter system that lets you search by type, date, period, status, and account simultaneously. You can easily access an essential document among hundreds of them in a few clicks. 
• Easy to Work With Invoices- You can create a template, repeat an invoice, or send a report concerning it instantly to your partners. 

The Solutions

Smart Design

Rosbank created its design. Our role was to improve it. We evaluated the business format, logic, and structure of the server data. After some serious evaluation, we developed a design that factors in the bank’s team vision and the technical aspects of mobile development.  

Flutter is a Technology that can save and Cover What the Bank Requires

The mobile work should work correctly with both iOS and Android. Two native apps should be enforced to achieve this. This included two development teams and different programming languages. Developing a native app is quite expensive. 

Flutter cross-platform technology was the easiest and affordable option for Rosbank. Among the benefits of Flutter include:

• Cost optimization
• Short time-to-market
• A single code base makes it easier to test and debug apps and has a lower error rate
• Easy to maintain, develop, or scale the app
• Minimal difference from native apps
• Improved security

The Latest Features Implemented Despite Old Backend Limitations

Some old backend services were written in the out-of-date Burlap XML Protocol. The new mobile app needed a new architecture that combines JSON and Flutter, which proved to be a challenge for the Surf team. 

We got a solution: a middleware layer. This is an intermediate server that can link the new mobile app to JSON and Burlap. It linked with the new and old backend and responded in a language they wanted. 

The middleware made it possible for the bank to rewrite the modules used in the old banking system with modern technologies. These changes don’t affect the mobile banking app’s performance. 

Smooth User Migration from the Old App to the New One

For a first-time login to the banking app, the user should use a PC to log into the bank’s internet client through an EDS. He should then authorize his mobile device before they start using the new mobile banking app. 

Deploying a new mobile bank app means Rosbank clients would start fresh registration. Seamless authorization prevented this. The procedure involved data migration, where data was moved from Android and iOS apps to different servers and transferred to new applications. The new app is more like an update of the old one. 

Transfer of Projects to In-House Development Teams

We carried out the project on the SurfGear architecture on GitHub to simplify everything before transferring the task to Rosbank’s in-house team.