We4G: Telecom provider became a neobank for 1+ million customers in 6 months
SENLA helps Israeli telecom company deliver banking services to hundreds of thousands of customers.
Transcending traditional telecom boundaries
We4G is one of the largest telecom providers in Israel with more than 1 million subscribers.
When the Israeli government announced an initiative that would allow companies to offer banking services to their customers, We4G decided it was a perfect opportunity to expand its existing service portfolio and differentiate itself from its rivals. Who doesn’t like the convenience of banking without the need of visiting a brick-and-mortar branch?
The plan was ambitious: to transform into a neobank that would support the most innovative financial services, such as NFC and QR code payments, P2P transfers, and the ability to apply for a loan or a credit line right from a phone.
Fulfilling regulations with a reliable partner
The execution would require building a custom banking architecture that would pass local regulator audit and innovative iOS and Android apps that would exceed customers' expectations.
All of this had to be done within 6 months.
We4G started looking for a reliable engineering team that could deliver high-level technical solutions and adhere to a strict list of requirements set by the financial regulator. These requirements were to ensure the company offers the utmost level of security to all its customers.
We4G was impressed right from the start by our scalable, modern solution based on microservices architecture, which included layers of business logic, data collection, backend, and frontend, UI/UX, and integration of external systems.
"SENLA's main advantage is the diversity of its team's professional backgrounds. This allows them to come up with creative solutions to complex technical problems. We have been really impressed with the level of commitment SENLA has given us. If we needed more resources or to speak to someone during their non-working hours, they were always available to answer questions and help us find the best solution. We refer SENLA to our partners all the time."
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Building stress-resilient solution that can scale and adapt
The first week of We4G and SENLA working together was spent creating and ideating an underlying technical architecture that on one hand would adhere to strict government standards, and on the other would impress customers so they would feel confident enough to switch to We4G for their banking needs.
"I remember saying to Michael: Reliability, scalability, and adaptability are the cornerstones of any financial system. These three principles defined not only the technical solution but our partnership as well."
We4G requirements included creating a custom payments gateway, fraud monitoring, payment authorization, payments back office modules, and third-party integrations.
The system had to support a wide variety of financial tools and services offered to its customers:
P2P transfers
NFC payments
Bank transfers
E-wallet
Loan application
Paying for local services
Family wallet
QR-code payments
BLE payments
After completing the initial design and vision of the system architecture, we moved on to working on design concepts for the native apps. It was paramount to deliver a sophisticated, polished, and easy-to-use experience to We4G’s customers.
Why native apps?
While others offered to build cross-platform apps and save dev time, SENLA insisted on developing native applications for iOS and Android.
This allowed We4G to adapt to ever-changing requirements set by local regulators, market demands, and Apple and Google, which would be impossible to achieve with a cross-platform approach.
Our designers were able to implement fluid and fast algorithmic animations, adding to the overall user experience.
For the tech stack, we went with industry-standard Java, Hibernate, and Spring. We wanted to make sure the system would be stable even under a heavy load of transactions (up to 1MM), stress-resilient, and scalable.
Bridging the cultural differences
It was clear that a project of this complexity and urgency required an innovative approach to succeed under strict timelines set by the customer.
We adopted a 2-weeks sprint schedule and released new demos to We4G every Friday to get their input and gather feedback.
After a few weeks, we understood that we had to bring a local delivery manager to Israel. This helped us bridge our cultural differences and move faster in dev cadence and communication.
When the project was finished, we partnered with KPMG to pass the local financial regulator audit. It took only 2 months for our banking solution to get official approval.
The value: 84% rate of new service adoption
We designed and developed the native iOS and Android applications and assisted We4G with passing local regulators' audits in just 2 months. This allowed We4G to rapidly position themselves not only as a telecom provider but also as a fully-fledged banking service provider.
In order to keep up with the shifting social paradigm, We4G took a big leap forward and embraced innovation. This resulted in an 84% rate of new service adoption after only the first year.
We4G and SENLA’s collaboration proves that thinking out of the box and putting customers first can open up new value streams even in such a traditional sphere as telecommunication.