Endcash E-Wallet App
A leading bank in Trinidad & Tobago aimed to promote a cashless society by creating a digital payment ecosystem—a mobile wallet that enables users to send, spend, receive, and manage money directly from their phones. With a legacy spanning over 184 years, the bank holds assets worth US$16.3 million and reported a net profit of US$195.8 million after tax and non-controlling interest. The group employs over 6,058 staff across 23 subsidiaries in 14 countries.
As their technology partner, we designed and developed a mobile wallet solution hosted on MS Azure, integrating social connectivity, nearby search functionality, and seamless payment transactions.
- Project Type : E-Wallet App
- PlatformMobile Application
- Client : Endcash
- Location : Trinidad & Tobago
- Contact:Non Disclosure
- Duration : 1 Year 5 Months
Challenges
The client, a leading player in the fintech industry, needed a custom digital wallet for both iOS and Android platforms to provide seamless cashless payment solutions for businesses and customers. The solution had to support core functionalities such as secure and reliable electronic payments within national boundaries, while also meeting stringent non-functional requirements like high performance, availability, confidentiality, security, and usability to cater to diverse user profiles, including consumers, agents, and merchants.
Challenges - Business Needs and Design Aspects
Challenges Faced in Developing the Digital Wallet Application
Custom Digital Wallet Development
- Creating a cashless payment solution tailored to the unique needs of businesses and customers.
- Designing for both iOS and Android platforms to ensure broad accessibility and seamless user experiences.
Core Mobile Wallet Capabilities
- Enabling secure and reliable electronic payments within national boundaries.
- Supporting diverse user profiles, including consumers, agents, and merchants, while meeting specific business workflows.
Functional Challenges
- Facilitating wallet registration, self-activation, and linking with formal bank accounts.
- Allowing users to add funds, transfer money, withdraw cash, and pay merchants seamlessly.
- Providing essential features like mini-statements, balance display, transaction tracking, and account management.
No Functional Challenges
- Scalability and Reliability: Designing a system that remains available and functional even during peak transaction volumes, with no downtime concerns.
- Usability: Simplifying onboarding and operation processes for low-literacy users to ensure inclusivity.
- Openness and Interoperability: Enabling connectivity across various financial and mobile service providers for seamless payment transactions.
Other Challenges
- Irrevocability: Designing a system where transactions are final, but users can still inquire about disputes or unauthorized actions.
- Tiered KYC: Implementing a tiered approach to "Know Your Customer," enabling account accessibility for users with minimal documentation while managing fraud risks.
- Immediate Funds Transfer: Ensuring real-time fund availability for recipients to replace traditional cash transactions.
Crafting Good User Interactions
- Simplified the payment journey with fewer steps and visual cues for guidance.
- Designed interactive elements like dynamic dashboards for real-time payment insights.
Customer Engagement Initiatives
- Embedded features like feedback mechanisms to increase engagement.
- Provided users with personalized payment history and preferences.
Design System Implementation
- Created a scalable design system to ensure consistency across iOS and Android platforms.
Testing and Iteration
- Conducted usability testing with target users to validate the design and identify improvement areas.
- Iterated designs based on feedback, ensuring continuous refinement and alignment with user needs.
Design Strategy for Endcash E-Wallet App
To tackle the challenges outlined, a user-centered and scalable design strategy is proposed, focusing on user empowerment, security, and ecosystem interoperability while aligning with business objectives.
Descovery and Empathy Mapping
- Develop user personas for various roles (consumer, merchant, agent) to understand their pain points, goals, and needs.
Inclusive UX/UI Design
- Utilize iconography and minimalist layouts to aid usability for low-literacy users.
- Provide support with context-sensitive help guides.
Simplified Onboarding
- Facilitating wallet registration, self-activation, and linking with formal bank accounts.
- Enable quick registration with a tiered KYC model, starting with basic accounts for users with minimal documentation.
- Guide users with animated walkthroughs and progressive disclosure techniques to ease sign-up complexity.
Security-First Design
- Implement biometric authentication (e.g., fingerprint or facial recognition) alongside PIN-based access.
- Use end-to-end encryption for all transactions, ensuring data confidentiality.
- Leverage trust-building elements like "secure payment guaranteed" badges.
Error Recovery & Transparency
- Provide detailed transaction history, receipts, and dispute resolution mechanisms.
- Design an intuitive workflow for error-handling scenarios (e.g., failed payments or network issues).
Effortless Wallet Management
- Intuitive dashboards for users to add money, check balances, and view mini-statements at a glance.
- Simplified flows for linking bank accounts or initiating payments with contextual tips.
- Display real-time payment confirmations and push notifications for transaction success/failure.
Customer Engagement Initiatives
- Embedded features like feedback mechanisms to increase engagement.
- Provided users with personalized payment history and preferences.
Accessibility for All
- Offer a lightweight app version for low-tech users.
- Provide agent-assisted dashboards for onboarding and transactions in low-literacy regions.
Implementation of a Design System
- Created a scalable design system to ensure consistency across iOS and Android platforms.
Testing and Refinement
- Conducted usability testing with target users to validate the design and identify improvement areas.
- Iterated designs based on feedback, ensuring continuous refinement and alignment with user needs.
Stakeholder Interviews
A structured approach is essential for conducting stakeholder interviews for the Endcash mobile application to effectively gather insights into their needs, expectations, and challenges.
Our Approach
To modernize the BSES mobile application, a user-centric design approach was implemented. The process began with stakeholder interviews and user research to identify pain points in bill payments, complaint registration, and new connection requests. User personas and journey maps were developed to guide feature prioritization, including multilingual support, one-tap payments, and real-time complaint tracking. Wireframes and prototypes ensured an intuitive design, while collaboration with developers enabled seamless integration with legacy APIs and secure transaction features. Usability testing validated the design, and analytics post-launch drove continuous improvements. This approach transformed the BSES app into a user-friendly, feature-rich platform, enhancing consumer satisfaction and engagement.
High-Fidelity Mobile Screens
Developing a high-fidelity (hi-fi) design for the BSES app focuses on modernizing its electricity consumption and bill management features to facilitate secure transactions, streamline complaint registration, and simplify new connection requests. The process starts with requirements gathering and user research, progressing to initial planning and wireframing. High-fidelity mockups are then crafted, emphasizing key screens. These designs are refined through iterative prototyping and usability testing to ensure a smooth and intuitive user experience.
Design and Business Outcome
As the engagement came to a conclusion, the client had the app fully prepared to revolutionize Trinidad and Tobago’s consumer market and commercial landscape. Upon its release for businesses and consumers, the community was ready to embrace a new era of digital transformation in buying and selling goods and services. Below is a list of the benefits the client gained following the successful deployment of the project.
- Enabling Cashless Transactions: By leveraging QR code-enabled digital payment systems and the rapid growth of mobile phone penetration in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), this initiative supported the government’s strategic efforts to replace cash with digital liquidity. It facilitated seamless electronic transactions for sending and receiving payments.
- Advancing Financial Inclusion: The project played a crucial role in supporting the T&T government’s mission to improve access to financial services by extending the reach of digital payment solutions to underserved populations in poor and rural areas.
- Empowering Financial Institutions: This digital wallet solution provided major financial institutions with the tools for effective strategic planning and implementation of financial solutions targeted at low-income communities. It also encouraged the widespread adoption of efficient, low-cost digital payment systems.
- Promoting Financial Inclusion with Reduced Risk: Allowing users to self-issue mobile wallets and accounts minimized barriers to financial inclusion without introducing significant compliance challenges. Additionally, the prefunded structure of all accounts mitigated credit risk for financial institutions, ensuring a secure and inclusive financial ecosystem.