How do you test financial applications?

Testing financial applications involves gathering and analysing requirements, developing a comprehensive test plan, designing test cases, executing tests and documenting results, tracking and managing defects, conducting user acceptance testing, performance testing, security testing, and regression testing to ensure that functionality and security requirements are met. A structured and systematic testing approach, including both manual and automated testing, should be observed to thoroughly test the application and meet desired quality standards.

How to write test cases for banking applications?

To write effective test cases for a banking application: Understand the requirements, including functional and non-functional requirements Identify potential risks and areas for testing Create test cases based on these requirements that cover various scenarios, such as positive and negative test cases, boundary cases, and edge cases Ensure the test cases are clear, concise, and cover both functional and non-functional requirements, such as security, performance, and accessibility Finally, prioritise the test cases based on the risk level and importance, and continually review and update them as the application evolves

What are the types of test cases for financial applications?

The types of test cases for applications including finance software are functional, security, performance, usability, compatibility, and regression ones.

Types of test cases to apply when testing financial applications

The test cases that you can work with effectively are the test cases you can quickly write and manage without correcting all the dependencies.

When you’re testing financial apps, you need to think beyond basic functionality: compliance violations can cost nearly ten times more than performance bugs. Start by mapping your critical user flows against regulatory requirements first, then layer in security penetration testing around payment processes.

Prioritise transaction integrity tests during sprint planning, throw in cross-browser compatibility checks for trading interfaces, and always validate calculation accuracy under stress loads. Most teams skip testing edge cases like concurrent transactions, but that’s where the real issues hide.

First, create a compliance-first test matrix that covers SOX, PCI-DSS, or whatever regulations hit your domain hardest.

We will go over some examples of writing efficient and manageable test cases when testing financial applications, what test cases to write when deploying the app, and highlight the checklist for writing test cases for banking or financial applications to help you and your testing team. Let’s go!

We also discussed different types of test cases you should consider in the video.

Testing financial software requires a high level of precision and accuracy. It's crucial to involve domain experts.

Pavan Dogga Posted in Quora 10 months ago

Reminder: what to include and omit when writing test cases

Having a prompt on how to write a good test case is useful for everyone – QA leads, testers and engineers. It is also helpful even for QA managers, who are involved in test case writing not too often, but whose main goal is to ensure that a product meets all required qualifications.

Any type of test case should include:

It is essential to have a unique identifier for your test case so that the issue can be easily identified and navigated through the kits;
A title and a brief description of test cases is necessary – so you can locate them quickly among the other patients;
Preconditions are not directly related to the functionality that is tested. Still, they must be fulfilled: you can describe the test case’s environment and the previous outcome even in the sequence. Preconditions help to estimate the context of a particular test case in software testing;
Steps of the test case to show the tester what actions will lead to the expected result;
The output should include a description of the desired result after finishing the test;

The things to avoid when designing test cases:

While writing test cases, avoid unclear formulations;
Avoid dependencies on the other test cases;
Excessive details or lack of information that is necessary for passing test cases.

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Software testing: financial and banking applications

Testing of financial applications is getting more complex because of the growing number of microservices and other multi-layer connections. A banking and financial application integrates with different regulatory or supplementary applications such as payment gateways, merchants, and trading accounts; the following types of test cases and testing should be written correctly.

Test cases to write when testing financial and banking applications

There are several key types of test cases in QA you can’t avoid dealing with banking and financial applications. Let’s get to the point and outline them.

Functional testing

Check if new accounts are created correctly with valid data;
Use functional testing type to check how an application behaves if the accounts are created with invalid data;
To make sure your account is secure, check login functionality with invalid data;
It is essential to check that the app functions from a user’s point of view (whether balance updates after withdrawal or crediting, regular payments saved and performed at a specific time);
You must test the app in all its functions from an admin’s point of view, too(whether bulk messaging can be sent and analysed and whether support requests are correctly handled. Use integration testing for that).

Database testing

This type of testing is applicable only if a tester has system architecture expertise. In any other case, you better delegate this testing to your system architects to do it by themselves.

Check if the data is structured correctly;
Make sure that the field’s data has the correct format;
Check if the values of computed fields are accurately calculated;
Check if each table has all needed constraints: primary keys, foreign keys, and unique indexes;
Сheck if there is duplicate data in the table;
Don’t be fooled by the null value. Make sure you check if it should exist and not in any other places;
Ensure that all data is written correctly to the table when a user creates or updates their profile;
Check application behaviour when the database server is not working;
Ensure that your data isn’t lost after an operation fails; check if the previous history was saved;
One of the most crucial aspects of maintaining a database is ensuring that you have regular backups. If this process isn’t done on time, your data could be lost forever.

Performance testing

Check app performance when lots of users use the same or different functionalities;
Run a test when your device is fully charged, medium charged and when it is about to die;
Use a few types of devices manufactured in different years, for example, 2021 and 2018. You will need this to ensure that the system capabilities are enough not to cause the app to crash for different devices;
Check app performance when the connection is slow;
You can check your app’s performance to see if it slows down or chokes during a transaction. You should also monitor for this when the Internet speed changes from slow, middling speeds suddenly becoming fast-loading and reliable.

Mobile and Cross-Platform Testing

Mobile banking has nearly tripled in the past few years – and your app better keep up. You’re not just dealing with iOS versus Android anymore. Think about it: your users might check their balance on their phone, deposit a check via tablet, then jump on a laptop to pay bills. Each transition needs to work flawlessly.

Start with touch responsiveness testing – nothing kills user trust faster than a laggy ‘Transfer’ button. Don’t forget biometric authentication either; Face ID hiccups can lock users out completely.

Test your push notifications across different network speeds. A delayed fraud alert defeats the entire purpose. Pay special attention to how your app behaves when users switch between cellular and WiFi – that’s where many financial apps stumble. The goal isn’t perfection on every device (impossible), but consistent core functionality everywhere users access their money.

Regression testing

Check the outlines of the requirements vs. types of test cases;
Check issues between the current release and the previous release;
Check compliance with FMEA, output from code coverage report, etc.;
Check regression test packs are continuously pruned by removing the test cases that are no longer needed & adding additional ones.

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aqua’s AI Copilot leverages the GPT language model to analyse and find patterns in your company’s tests. The Copilot can then expand complete test case drafts or create entire tests from scratch. You have a granular control over the level of AI’s involvement, and you can always review the output before expanding your test case suite.

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Accessibility testing

There are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) which were developed through the W3C process to provide a single shared standard for web content accessibility. Its main goal is to meet the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally. It also explains how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.

At present days, there are 3 WCAG guidelines – 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 that contain requirements with success criteria.

WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1 are technical standards with 12-13 guidelines structured by 4 principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.

Each guideline has testable success criteria of three levels: A, AA, and AAA.

Here are exact quotations (that can also be used as a checklist) of Accessibility Principles specified in WCAG:

Perceivable Information and user interface
Text alternatives for non-text content
Captions and other alternatives for multimedia
Content can be presented in different ways
Content is easier to see and hear
Operable user interface and navigation
Functionality is available from a keyboard
Users have enough time to read and use the content
Content does not cause seizures and physical reactions
Users can easily navigate, find content, and determine where they are
Users can use different input modalities beyond the keyboard
Understandable information and user interface
Text is readable and understandable
Content appears and operates in predictable ways
Users are helped to avoid and correct mistakes
Robust content and reliable interpretation
Content is compatible with current and future user tools

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is a very complex but very useful tool in Accessibility testing that you can rely on. You always can refer to their website to learn more information about how to make your product accessible for different individuals.

Security testing

Check how the application responds to multiple logins;
Check if the “Forgot password” option allows you to recover the account details quickly;
Check if pass requirements are good enough;
Make sure that IDs and passwords are encrypted;
Here’s what you need to verify immediately: confirm your financial app runs HTTPS everywhere, no exceptions. Check that encryption covers both stored customer data and anything moving between servers.Don’t just assume patches are current. Set up automated alerts for security updates and track deployment within 48 hours max. Most breaches happen because teams think they’re covered but miss critical updates sitting in staging for weeks.To grab a quick win, run a simple SSL checker on your live endpoints right now. If anything comes back as “weak” or shows outdated TLS versions, you’ve got your first priority sorted.
Check if the pass hides under dots or other signs when the user enters it in the application;
It is a valuable safety feature to ensure that the user does not remain logged in indefinitely;
Ensure the application response to cache clearance in such types of test cases

Regulatory and Compliance Test Cases in Finance

Finance apps face a compliance minefield that shifts constantly. Your test cases need to cover the big three: KYC, AML, and PCI-DSS requirements, plus whatever data protection rules apply in your region. Build test scenarios that verify personal data gets properly masked in logs and stored according to regulations. Don’t just check if audit trails exist; validate they capture every critical action with timestamps and user IDs that auditors actually expect to see.

Testing compliance features in isolation rather than during real user workflows could be a fatal mistake. A KYC check might work perfectly in your test environment but fail when combined with account opening processes. Keep your compliance test suite fresh: regulations change faster than most teams realise, and yesterday’s passing test could be today’s violation waiting to happen.

User acceptance testing

Check if navigation is intuitive and adjustable at the user interface;
While writing a user acceptance testing test case, you should check the font and colour scheme to make sure that all visual elements match;
It is crucial to make sure all the pages on the app are using consistent language, so start with checking for terms like “recurring charges” or regular payments;
Make sure that all of the links and buttons have clear titles;
Error and warning messages should be self-explanatory, so check that they are.
Essential fields have placeholders for important information like tips or explanations on avoiding trouble in the future, so adjust the user interface for that too.

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Addressing the challenges of writing test cases for financial and banking apps

Challenge 1: Lack of knowledge about compliance requirements in software testing. When writing test cases on security testing, lack of knowledge could result in issues while passing security compliance of the tested financial application.

Challenge 2: While testing, you can meet other fields such as data migration, advanced security levels, or, as we mentioned above, databases. They also need to be checked. It might be challenging for QA testers who lack knowledge about systems, frameworks, or migrations specialities. In this case, using ready-made templates for writing test cases for banking and financial apps can be a solution.

Applying a professional test case management tool can help address the challenges of writing test cases in software testing: aqua cloud is the solution to help a testing team with compliance requirements, data migration, and test case customization.

Sample test cases for banking apps

As we talk about test cases in banking, it would be useful to mention SDLC for the banking system and how it works in this context.

To perform Software Development Life Cycle you need to identify scope identification, plan analyses, and design, development, testing, deployment, and acceptance testing.

Here is a direct quote from Axtria analytical agency regarding the main objectives of SDLC:

“Similarly, availability, usability, support and training requirements are handled separately by operations. Continuous collaboration is reduced to an orchestrated intervention-driven approach.”

Therefore, this approach gains to minimize the efforts of the entire development and quality assurance team on way to release a product faster, more cost-effective, and with fewer bugs and defects. Once you implemented the test management or ALM tool, it would also be nevertheless useful to simplify the process of testing some specific banking features or, for instance, writing of proper test scenario for a banking application.

However, there is no universal test case example for banking; there are still some instances you can refer to get efficient testing. You might also want to pay a little bit more attention to security measures since it is the financial sector. Making sure that your data is protected and the security works smoothly are essential. So here are some of the examples of what to test.

Admin verification:

Use valid, Invalid and no data to verify admin login
Use valid, Invalid and no data to verify admin change password
Authenticate existing admin home links
Validate admin logout

New Role verification:

Use valid, Invalid and no data to create a new role
Use existing data to create a new role
Validate a role description and its types
Verify a reset and cancel option
Verify role deletion with and without dependency
Authenticate existing links on the role details page

Customers & visitors verification:

Authenticate existing visitor or customer links
Use valid, Invalid and no data to verify customers
Use valid, Invalid and no data to verify a banker’s login

New users verification:

Use valid, Invalid and no data to create a new user
Use valid, Invalid and no data to create a new user with existing branch data
Verify a reset and cancel option
Use valid, Invalid and no data to update a user
Use existing data to update a user
Validate a cancel option
Validate deletion of the user

New branch verification

Use valid, Invalid and no data to create a new branch
Use existing branch data to create a new one
Verify a reset and cancel option
Use valid, Invalid and no data to update a branch
Use existing branch data to update a branch
Validate a cancel option
Validate branch deletion with and without dependency
Validate a branch search option

Final thoughts

Writing test cases for financial applications can be tricky for a testing team: the specific environment of app deployment, lack of compliance knowledge, and complexity of the test cases. Choosing the fit tool for testing banking and financial apps means solving 50% of the problems that might arise when the other 50% of the problem’s solution is a qualified test case management. You can find 100% of that in aqua cloud.

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