Software testing has become an important entity across every domain for the benefits it offers. We have already explored software testing in general in our post "Why Software Testing Is Necessary," so this time, we decided to delve deeper into a niche domain, the Fintech application domain.

In this post, we will explore testing challenges specific to Fintech domain applications.

The Domain and the Application

Before understanding how to test a Fintech application, it is necessary to understand how the sector works.

Characteristics of a Fintech Application

Multi-tier functionality: In a Fintech application, thousands of concurrent sessions are being run at a particular instant, hence, it should support multi-tier functionality. Large-scale integration: A Fintech application usually integrates with numerous other applications, including third-party vendors, for transactions, user accounts, bill pay utility, etc. Multiple transactions are happening at any instant in a Fintech application, leading to a high rate of transactions per second. Huge transactions are being made every second and need to be secure; security is a major characteristic of any Fintech software. Huge amounts of data call for a massive storage system. Data is highly confidential so it's important to be equipped with disaster management. A recording station keeps track of day-to-day transactions. Real-time processing. Batch processing. Reliable troubleshooting for customer issues. Various users from various locations access the same application, so it should support multilingual users. Fast and secure transactions.

As a Fintech application possesses numerous characteristics, you need a solid end-to-end testing methodology to ensure that your Fintech application works flawlessly.

How Testers See the Workflow of a Basic Fintech Application

Like any software testing process, Fintech companies also follow the standard seven-step process of testing.

We will not go into detail on the generic process right now, just special considerations related to Fintech organizations.

Requirement Gathering and Review

This is the initial phase in any Fintech application involving the basic documentation of requirements. This documentation is done either as functional requirements or as use cases.

This requirement gathering is followed by a requirements review where the QA engineers cross-check whether any of the business workflows is violated.

Business Scenarios in Fintech Operations

On the basis of business requirements, QA engineers derive the business scenarios from the required documentation. The challenge here is to not miss any scenario and figure out both high-level and low-level scenarios. Usually, high-level scenarios are preferred over low-level, detailed test cases because it is easier for business analysts to review them. Knowledge of the business domain plays a major role while preparing business scenarios and Fintech test cases.

In a single bank with multiple products around insurance, banking, and investment, there are multiple different business scenarios, as shown in the image below.

From the image above, you can easily figure out that there are many possible permutations and combinations to create business scenarios. For example, a simple use case of opening a fixed deposit account at a bank will have various business workflows, like opening an account, depositing the amount, transfers, monitoring, interests, etc. Hence, testing every possible business scenario becomes important.

Functional Testing

Functional testing of a Fintech application is a major challenge in itself, worthy of its own independent post. Simple cross-browser testing in Fintech application is a major issue.

The process of functional testing of a Fintech application is very different from the usual software testing scenarios, as it involves monetary transactions and sensitive data; every possible test case should be taken into consideration.

It is important for testers to test for interactions among different components, and at the same time, anticipate the risks in any unknown territory; for example, in a new cloud deployment or a new on-premise deployment.

Multiplatform Testing

As Fintechs run on multiple different environments, it is important for them to test for cross-browser compatibility. As there may be some systems that can have components that may be spanning over some other OSes, the need may arise to test the whole system again. Be it any OS like Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac, and Android or iOS mobile apps, you need to ensure compatibility for all.

You can use LambdaTest to ensure cross-browser compatibility of your Fintech application.

Database Testing

Testing the integrity of databases is as important as testing for functions since Fintech applications involve complex transactions at the database level. Testing for a database in a Fintech software includes

Testing data integrity

Data loading testing

Database migration testing

Testing for various triggers

Testing for rules

If you're talking about creating a realistic dataset on any e-commerce website, it's quite simple to copy the database, but in the case of Fintech applications, it's a whole new game! You cannot just copy-paste the dataset as it is highly confidential and security comes as a major concern. Moreover, there are so many dependencies in a Fintech application that creating realistic data requires cross-checking and limits the system.

The only way to rescue it is to create specialized robots which can simulate account creation with all the detailed steps.

Security Testing

Now we get to the biggest concern of a Fintech application — security.

Since Fintech applications deal with money transfers, sensitive financial data, and third-party payment gateways and are highly prone to hackers stealing sensitive data, security testing in a Fintech domain holds enormous value.

The latest technologies, like cloud deployment, 2-factor authentication, microservice architecture, and others make the process of security a little bit easier. However, these same tech ideas introduce their own set of issues and precautions.

Multiple-factor authentications: The demands for such security concerns give rise to multiple factor authentications. These authentications make the security process more complex. Say you replace a simple username/password entry with fingerprint verification, text/email verification, or card verification. Don’t you think that will add complexity to the testing process? Of course! This may give rise to huge complexities in the testing process with more and more test cases. API Security: I would suggest you track dependencies and vulnerabilities in the underlying components of a Fintech application to make sure that whenever you have any vulnerable libraries, you have an alternative tested solution for that vulnerability.

User Acceptance Testing

User acceptance testing comes as the final testing stage in every development cycle. In user acceptance testing, the application is tested for proper functioning as per the requirements defined by the customer. From its proper functioning to security, everything is tested, considering every possible scenario from the user’s point of view.

This is the basic Fintech application as seen from tester’s point of view. Testing plays an important role at every stage in the application’s development life cycle, be it functional, user acceptance, or security testing. Even today, testing has a long way to go in the Fintech sector.