An all-in digital banking platform addresses the issue of payment delays in Nigeria
Industry
Services
Duration
Team size
About the client
Our client is a US startup with Nigerian roots eager to give users flexibility in how they take their pay.
Ensuring timely wage payments remains a growing challenge in Nigeria. Our client aimed to address this challenge with a responsive digital bank that offers early access to earned wages — a first-of-its-kind offering in Nigeria.
Business challenge
The client sought a novel approach to establish a fintech infrastructure in Nigeria, bypassing the limitations of a traditional banking license.
Our client needed a web-based digital bank, accessible via a desktop web app, that provides an all-in fintech experience with early wage access and allows users to link their existing bank accounts to the app.
From a technical standpoint, the solution had to meet the following requirements:
• Ability to serve 40,000-50,000 user sessions simultaneously
• High transaction speed
• High level of events logging
• Seamless integration with third-party services
• Sustainability for peak user load due to salary withdrawal periods
Implementation approach
To create a license-free digital bank for the Nigerian market, we selected a Banking-as-a-Service development approach.
Our team analyzed the existing BaaS platforms, considering crucial factors such as cost, maturity, documentation, and supported tech stacks, which led us to Maplerad, a financial operating system perfectly aligned with the client's requirements. Additionally, the selected BaaS platform facilitates early paycheck access, which is a signature feature of our client’s banking app.
Central to our solution was a robust and secure open banking API integration that enables users to leverage the app’s innovative features while maintaining their existing bank accounts.
Delivered solution
Our solution comprised a user-facing web application and a reliable admin panel connected via a RESTful API to ensure the solution’s scalability and flexibility.
The backend, built on Node.js and the Nest.js framework, employs a stateless architecture for fault tolerance and ease of deployment.
As the system needs to manage a substantial number of requests, including transfers, deposits, and account creation, we selected an auto-scalable AWS infrastructure with load balancers as a server solution to facilitate on-demand scalability.
Key features
Our team delivered the web platform in a series of controlled releases, starting with a minimum viable product. Following the user and stakeholder feedback, we then refined the solution and launched a full-fledged, feature-rich version of a web digital banking app.
Early paycheck access
A standout feature of the app that allows users to access a portion of their earned wages two days in advance.
Account management
Users can seamlessly open and manage bank accounts to send and receive funds, including their salaries.
Money transfers
The app allows users to receive and make transfers to another Nigerian bank and another Maplerad account with the transaction history available at a glance for effortless financial management.
External bank accounts
Based on the integration with the Okra platform, this feature lets users link their existing bank accounts to the app. Users can receive salaries in their preferred accounts while managing finances and using features like virtual cards within the app.
Card management
The app enables users to instantly create, manage, and get virtual cards, granting them the flexibility and convenience of tap-to-pay transactions.
Admin panel
Administrators can execute user and account control, transaction oversight, and virtual card issuance/blocking via a secure admin dashboard.
Technology stack
Frontend
Typescript
React.js
Redux
styled-components
Vite
Maplerad
D3.js
Backend
Spring
Hibernate
Flyway DĐ’
Lombok
Reactor
JUnit
Prometheus
Grafana
PostgreSQL
AWS
RabbitMQ
Redis
Maplerad
Twilio Verify
Project results
Thanks to our smooth collaboration, the client’s team was able to deliver a digital banking app in six months.
Augmented with features like seamless banking integration and unique offerings like early paycheck access, the app helped our client tackle a major financial hurdle for Nigerians while also providing both employees and employers with a full set of money management functionalities.
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