FINTECH FOR ADVISORY FIRMS WITH A FOCUS ON MINORITY-OWNED BANKS

The financial services landscape is constantly evolving. Independent advisory firms are playing a crucial role in providing unbiased financial advice to their clients. Unlike larger financial institutions, these firms offer a wide array of services. Services include financial planning, investment management, and retirement planning, free from the influence of a parent company’s products or services. Within this dynamic environment, a significant opportunity arose to support minority-owned banks—specifically Black-owned, Latino-owned, and women-owned institutions—through a private-labeled banking-as-a-service platform. This platform would enable safe and secure investment of large portfolios across a network of these banks, maximizing returns and protecting investments.

First Factory partnered with FinTech startup IFI Network to realize this vision. IFI Network sought to create a platform that would empower wealth managers to offer a high-touch service and provide clients with seamless visibility into their investments within the IFI Network portfolio.

CRAFTING A SCALABLE SYSTEM FROM THE GROUND UP

The core objective was to architect a scalable system capable of meeting diverse feature requirements. The platform was designed to allow IFI Network administrators to add advisory firms, configure custom settings for each, build out their product listings, and create advisor administrators and representatives. Critical to its functionality was the ability to support all CRM systems by importing data in text-readable formats like CSV or Excel.

Managing a diverse financial portfolio necessitated numerous third-party integrations with banking institutions, CRMs, and payment providers. The platform needed to handle transaction statuses, posted dates, and various transaction details, including ACH or wire transfers. A key integration was with Plaid, a payments platform that securely retrieves permissioned account information from users’ financial institutions.

High-net-worth individuals and institutions, the primary clients, would have access to deposit account details—including balances and interest rates—as well as account transactions, statements, and bank allocations. Loan details and form submissions would also be accessible. To ensure user convenience, self-service functionality was implemented, allowing clients to self-apply and upload accounts, or have their advisor assist with the setup.

THE DESIGN PHILOSOPHY: USER-CENTRIC AND STRATEGIC

Our UX/UI design team undertook a comprehensive analysis to understand user behaviors, contexts, preferences, and potential pain points. This involved studying numerous financial applications targeting both institutions and individual customers, as well as gathering insights from stakeholders regarding business goals, constraints, and expectations. The aim was not merely to build a UI for data presentation, but to genuinely understand what “success” looked like for the startup—enabling client onboarding, market differentiation, and securing additional funding.

The team then meticulously detailed the information architecture, defined user flows, and iteratively created wireframes, culminating in high-fidelity clickable prototypes. These designs were subsequently exported to Zeplin, a collaborative tool for UI designers and front-end developers, ensuring pixel-perfect implementation of the interface.

ROBUST DEVELOPMENT FOR FINANCIAL INTEGRITY

We chose AWS with Cognito for authentication. Our architect initially considered the serverless AWS computing platform known as Lambda. Due to the project’s size and extensive business logic led AWS ECS was leveraged instead. The database was built using AWS RDS and MySQL.

On the networking side, the production environment was designed with a robust configuration, isolating databases in a private subnet accessible only from the backend. Security groups were established to control access between services. Apollo GraphQL was our clear choice for building and managing the collection of microservices and their data sources. We selected NodeJS for server-side scripting, and PrismaJS, an open-source ORM, was utilized to expedite SQL querying. Continuing with the JavaScript toolset, we implemented React was for the user interface.

“GETTING IT RIGHT” FROM THE OUTSET

For an application like the IFI Network, a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) required complete functionality for the initial product offering. The white-label feature was deemed essential, even if initial customizations were minimal. The application’s benefit would not be realized without it. Similarly, the product would lack value if it couldn’t read third-party banking details.

The team dedicated significant effort to building a robust infrastructure with scalability and security as paramount principles. The QA team provided an extra layer of scrutiny,. This ensured 100% confidence in results when handling sensitive financial data. Once the UI was implemented and transactional features were added, the founders were highly involved in providing feedback and conducting extensive User Acceptance Testing (UAT). Stakeholders validate the platform’s functionality by performing tasks as Administrators, Advisor Firm Administrators, Advisor Firm Representatives, and clients.

DRIVING SOCIAL EQUITY THROUGH FINANCIAL INNOVATION

IFI Network leverages the freedom of independence and provides a marketplace of single banks offering competitive rates and ensures security with up to $100 million in FDIC insurance per account. The platform acknowledges the thousands of community and regional banks across the US. They serve local communities with relationship banking, risk diversification, and credit allocation. The IFI Network team maintains an acute focus on racial and social equity. They recognize the growing demand from customers to invest in communities that align with their values. They deliver this all while ensuring accounts are safely backed by government deposit insurance.

The IFI Network platform now empowers advisor firms and individuals to make more informed investment decisions. The results are maximized rate yields, diversified portfolios, and supporting businesses that align with their missions.

THE IMPACTFUL OUTCOME

The private-label, banking-as-a-service platform from IFI Network has successfully launched and been well received. Early testing has demonstrated its success in onboarding advisor firms, their clients, and the banks featured in the IFI Marketplace. As the IFI Network of advisors and customers continues to expand, and invested capital rises, so too will the diversity of features on the roadmap. Customizable features, such as platform performance, security and stability, and an intuitive interface have been well-received. This combined with a commitment to social equity has highlighted a small FinTech startup with the potential for considerable impact.

If you have a product concept and are seeking capital for its development, consider First Factory’s nearshore development team for expert design, development, and product ideation services. Our comprehensive software solutions, cloud infrastructure expertise, and product development services are designed to help you succeed. We pride ourselves on quickly understanding your business goals and adapting to your specific needs, rather than simply completing tasks.

Contact us at +1.646.688.5070 or visit https://firstfactory.com/nearshore-solutions/ to begin your journey toward a winning product solution.

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