Mobile banking app and USSD development for banks, SACCOs and MFIs
We build your Android and iOS app and your USSD menu, and the API layer that connects both to your core banking system, so members and customers can bank from any phone without a trip to the branch.
What changes
- Customers check balances, pay and transfer from their phone at any hour.
- Members with feature phones get the everyday services through USSD.
- The app and USSD use the same API layer, limits and audit trail.
- Your team handles fewer branch visits and calls for statements, PIN resets and simple requests.
What’s included
- Balances, mini statements and full statements
- Transfers between your own accounts, to other banks and to mobile money wallets
- Bill payments, merchant payments and airtime
- Push and SMS notifications for transactions and account events
- Self-service: card blocking, PIN management, cheque book and other requests
- Android and iOS apps in your brand
- A USSD menu for feature phones
- Device binding, one-time PINs and transaction limits
- An API layer between the channels and your core banking system
- Admin tools for customer support, limits and content
How it runs
Discovery
We map your products, your members or customers, your core banking interfaces and your security requirements, then agree scope and price in writing.
Design
Screens, USSD menus, limits, security steps and the APIs behind them are agreed with your teams before we build.
Build and test
We build against a test copy of your core and test with your teams, including lost phones, wrong PINs, timeouts and transfers that fail halfway.
Launch and hand over
A staff pilot first, then your customers. We hand over runbooks and support your team through the app store releases.
Banking from any phone
Your customers already pay for most things from their phones. They expect to check a balance, pay school fees or send money to family without visiting a branch or calling your office.
We build the channels that let them: an app for smartphones, a USSD menu for feature phones, and the API layer that connects both to your core banking system.
What customers can do
- See their money. Balances, recent transactions and full statements they can download.
- Move it. Transfers between their own accounts, to other people in your institution, to other banks and to mobile money wallets with M-Pesa, Airtel Money, MTN MoMo, Orange Money and other mobile money operators.
- Pay. Bills, merchants and airtime.
- Hear about it. A notification for every transaction and for changes to their account.
- Help themselves. Block a card, change a PIN, order a cheque book or raise a request without calling you.
An app for smartphones, USSD for everyone else
The app runs on Android and iOS and carries your brand. The USSD menu covers the everyday services for members and customers without a smartphone or a data bundle. Both use the same API layer, so a limit or a rule you change applies to each channel at once.
Security that holds up on a lost phone
Phones get lost, and PINs get shared. We design for both:
- Device binding. The app works only on the device the customer registered.
- One-time PINs for new devices and sensitive actions.
- Transaction limits per customer, per channel and per day, set by your team.
- An audit trail of every login, request and transaction.
The API layer behind it
The app and USSD never talk to your core directly. An API layer sits in between, checks every request and calls your core banking system through the interfaces it already exposes. If you also serve partners or other channels through APIs, we build that layer on WSO2 API Manager and Micro Integrator, so every channel uses the same secured, documented APIs.
Start with discovery
Tell us which services you want on the phone first and which core banking system you run. We reply with the questions that decide scope and cost, then agree a discovery phase with your team.
Common questions
Do we need both an app and USSD?
In East Africa, usually yes. Smartphone users want an app, but many members and customers still use feature phones, and USSD reaches them without a data bundle. Both run on the same API layer, so a rule set once applies to each.
How do you keep the app secure?
The app is bound to the customer's device, so a stolen PIN alone is not enough. Sensitive actions need a one-time PIN, transfers are held to limits you set, and every request is authenticated at the API layer before it reaches your core.
How does the app connect to our core banking system?
Through an API layer we build in front of your core, using the interfaces your core banking system already exposes. Where you need governed APIs for several channels and partners, we use WSO2 API Manager and Micro Integrator.
Can customers send money to mobile money?
Yes. Transfers to M-Pesa, Airtel Money, MTN MoMo, Orange Money and other mobile money operators go through each operator's API under your agreements with them. Transfers to other banks go through banks with open APIs or your payment switch, and settlement is matched against bank statements.
Will the app carry our brand?
Yes. It is published under your institution's name in Google Play and the App Store, and the code and configuration we build for it are yours.
How much does a mobile banking app cost?
It depends on your services, your channels and your core banking interfaces, so we price after a discovery phase. You get a written scope and price before work starts.
Planning a core banking or payments project?
Tell us what you are planning. We scope core banking, payments and identity work with your own IT team, starting with a discovery phase.