Software testing is a critical requirement to be executed in any SDLC based on a set of principles, tools, and standards across businesses. However, there are certain sectors where such testing acquires an added dimension and salience due to the risks involved. The BFSI, or specifically, the banking sector, remains a high-profile one where banking application testing assumes critical importance. This is due to the increased threat of cybercrime and the fact that banking applications contain sensitive personal, financial, and business information. If it falls into the wrong hands, the information can lead to financial ruin for the victim and a loss of credibility for the bank. Also, since all other sectors directly or indirectly depend on the smooth functioning of such apps, the need to perform BFSI testing is a foregone conclusion.
Why conduct software testing for banking apps?
Any banking application is a complex and multifaceted structure comprising numerous features and functionalities. Each of these should be free of glitches, bottlenecks, or vulnerabilities to prevent hackers or cybercriminals from snooping in and taking advantage. It is only through quality assurance in banking that every aspect of the application is thoroughly checked for any security risks without compromising navigation. Banking application testing, in addition to ensuring the remediation or mitigation of all performance glitches and code errors, should see the application operate seamlessly across devices, browsers, operating systems, and networks. Further, testers should stay one step ahead of cybercriminals by continuously testing the app for the latest cyber threats.
Banking or financial services application testing, besides monitoring, evaluating, and upgrading the application’s performance, looks into many other aspects, as mentioned below:
Functionality: To ensure whether the modules work as per expectations, separately and overall.
Data protection: A banking application with bugs or glitches can be exploited by threat actors to steal data. And by ignoring data protection measures, the customers’ financial assets can be exposed to risks and put the bank in harm’s way. Further, the bank can pay a high price for being careless with a litany of court cases, strict penalties, and/or criminal prosecution.
Performance: Issues leading to performance woes such as slow page loading, stability, and low responsiveness are tested, identified, and fixed, especially on mobile devices and against increasing load thresholds. Unless remedied, these issues can have a negative bearing on user retention rates. Also, mobile banking application testing ensures the optimal performance of a banking application across browsers, devices and hardware configurations, and operating systems.
UX design: Bank professionals are not expected to have proficiency in operating web applications. Hence, banking domain testing should ensure the application is user-friendly and has clean interfaces and a great UX design with the main services being easily accessible.
Security: Cybercriminals are always on the lookout to cause information breaches in web or mobile banking applications. With robust digital banking testing, testers look to eliminate potential risk factors or vulnerabilities that can be exploited by threat actors for nefarious designs. The lack of security in a banking application can directly impinge on the bank’s credibility and needs utmost attention. It is only by testing banking domain apps that their compliance with standard security and regulatory guidelines is ensured and incidents of hacking are prevented.
Use cases to test banking applications
The typical use cases that testers or QA specialists look into while conducting QA for banks are mentioned below:
Login checking: The testers check if the users are able to log into the banking application with valid login credentials. And should the users fail to enter data in one or two mandatory fields, the application should prevent login and offer a mechanism for restoration.
Performance of basic transactions: The banking app should support transactions between a user’s credit and/or debit cards with a particular account and between the user and another account. Further, to facilitate transactions, the application should have a mechanism to create regular payments.
Change of password: The software testing for banking apps should ensure the change or modification of login credentials, including passwords, by the users. Testers should check whether the mechanism to edit any personal data in the records by the users is safe and secure from all aspects.
Transactions with multiple users: The testers should ensure the users are able to conduct transactions with multiple users provided they have sufficient funds in their account.
Blocking an account: The application should have a mechanism to block an account after multiple login attempts to offer protection from brute force attacks. Also, the application should allow the restoration of the blocked account in a quick but secure way.
Conclusion
Since banking applications deal with large volumes of sensitive data, they should be subjected to stringent BFSI testing to mitigate risks and vulnerabilities. Banking application testing should ensure the delivery of an error-proof app where users can conduct seamless transactions in a secured manner and every regulatory standard of the fintech industry is complied with.
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James Daniel is a software Tech enthusiastic & works at Cigniti Technologies. I'm having a great understanding of today's software testing quality that yields strong results and always happy to create valuable content & share thoughts.
Article Source: medium.com