Fintech MVP Development Agency
Greta builds compliant fintech products in 4–8 weeks — payment apps, lending platforms, investment dashboards, and open banking integrations. PCI-DSS, GDPR, KYC, and AML compliance is built in from day one. Traditional agencies charge $300,000 and take 12–18 months for the same scope.
What is fintech MVP development?
Fintech (financial technology) means software that handles money, payments, banking, or investing. A fintech MVP is the first working version of that software. You build it to test your idea with real users before spending more.
If you are unsure what an MVP is, read our guide on what an MVP is before continuing.
Fintech MVPs are different from other MVPs. They handle real money. Real people's financial data lives inside them. That means regulators, auditors, and lawyers get involved before you launch — not after.
Examples of fintech MVPs include: a payment app that lets users send and receive money, a lending platform that offers small loans, a personal finance tool that tracks spending, and an investment dashboard that shows portfolio performance.
Why fintech is harder to build than other apps
Most software fails slowly. A social app with a bug means unhappy users. A fintech app with a bug means lost money, regulatory fines, and lawsuits. The stakes are higher. So the rules are stricter.
Four compliance frameworks make fintech builds expensive and slow for traditional teams:
The global rules for handling payment card data
If your product ever touches a credit card number, you need PCI-DSS compliance. It sets 12 security requirements covering encryption, access control, and network monitoring. Non-compliance means card networks ban you from processing payments.
EU data protection law
GDPR applies to any product with EU users. It controls how you collect, store, and use personal data. Fines reach 4% of global annual turnover. For fintech, GDPR overlaps with financial data regulations — doubling the compliance burden.
Know Your Customer — verifying who your users are
KYC is the process of confirming a user's identity before letting them access financial services. This means ID document verification, liveness checks, and sanctions screening. Regulators require it. Building it badly blocks users and delays your launch.
Anti-Money Laundering — preventing financial crime
AML checks detect and report suspicious financial activity. Transaction monitoring, risk scoring, and SAR filing are part of the picture. Regulators fine companies that fail to catch money laundering — even if the company didn't know it was happening.
Most agencies treat compliance as a final step. That means expensive rework and delayed launches. At Greta, compliance architecture is the starting point — not the afterthought.
Why Greta for fintech
Traditional fintech development costs $300,000 or more and takes 12–18 months (Clutch industry data, 2024). That figure includes vendor procurement, security audits, compliance reviews, legal fees, and senior engineering time. Most startups burn that budget before a single user signs up.
Greta delivers the same output in 4–8 weeks. We do this because we have built fintech compliance into reusable architecture patterns. We do not start from scratch on PCI-DSS every time. We apply proven, audited patterns and configure them to your specific product.
Time to launch
vs 12–18 months with a traditional agency. Same compliance, a fraction of the wait.
What traditional agencies charge
Greta delivers compliant fintech MVPs at a fraction of that cost.
Compliance built in
PCI-DSS, GDPR, KYC, and AML architecture from the first line of code — not bolted on later.
We also handle long-term maintenance. Most startups find a new problem after launch: nobody owns the compliance work. Engineers leave. Auditors arrive. With Greta, you have a team that knows your codebase and your compliance posture — available for ongoing support.
We build all types of fintech. We also build adjacent vertical software including insurtech products if your product sits at that boundary.
What we build
Every product below includes compliance architecture, secure data storage, and a dashboard for operators and administrators.
Payment Apps
Send, receive, and request money between users. Includes card processing, bank transfers, and digital wallets. PCI-DSS compliance and fraud detection built in.
Lending Platforms
Loan origination, credit scoring, repayment schedules, and borrower onboarding. KYC and AML flows handle identity verification and risk screening automatically.
Personal Finance Tools
Budgeting, spending analysis, savings goals, and bill tracking. Connect to bank accounts via open banking APIs with GDPR-compliant data handling.
Investment Dashboards
Portfolio tracking, performance analytics, asset allocation views, and transaction history. Real-time data feeds and role-based access control included.
Open Banking Integrations
Connect your product to bank accounts using PSD2-compliant open banking APIs. Account aggregation, payment initiation, and transaction data — securely and legally.
Expense Trackers
Business or personal expense categorisation, receipt capture, approval workflows, and accounting integrations. Built for teams managing multi-currency spend.
If you are building a SaaS MVP in fintech — a B2B product sold to financial institutions — we handle that too. The compliance requirements are similar but the sales cycle and feature set are different.
Compliance we handle
Every framework below is built into your product's architecture from day one. Not added as a checklist after launch.
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
The global rules for handling payment card data. Required if your product processes, stores, or transmits card numbers. We implement tokenisation, encryption at rest and in transit, and access logging so your product meets PCI-DSS requirements before you onboard your first paying user.
General Data Protection Regulation
EU data protection law that governs how personal data is collected, stored, and used. We build consent management, data deletion flows, data portability exports, and an audit trail so you can demonstrate compliance to regulators.
Know Your Customer
The process of verifying who your users are before allowing them to access financial services. We integrate with identity verification providers to automate ID document checks, liveness detection, and sanctions list screening. KYC flows are designed for conversion — fast for legitimate users, strict for risk cases.
Anti-Money Laundering
Checks to prevent financial crime. We build transaction monitoring, risk scoring, and suspicious activity flagging into your product. Operators can review flagged transactions in an admin dashboard and file reports where legally required.
Our fintech build process
- 01
Discovery & compliance scoping
We start by mapping your product to the compliance frameworks it will need. What data are you handling? What countries are you launching in? What payment rails do you need? This determines your architecture before we write a single line of code.
- 02
Architecture design
We design the full system — data models, API structure, third-party integrations, and security controls. Compliance requirements are wired in at the design stage so nothing needs to be retrofitted later.
- 03
Core MVP build
We build the minimum feature set needed to launch and learn. Payments, onboarding, user management, and the primary value-delivery feature. Every module is tested against its compliance requirements as we go.
- 04
Compliance integration
KYC verification, AML monitoring, PCI-DSS tokenisation, and GDPR consent flows are integrated and tested. We connect to your chosen compliance vendors — Stripe Identity, Jumio, ComplyAdvantage, or others.
- 05
Security review
We conduct an internal security review before launch. Penetration testing, dependency scanning, and OWASP checklist review. Issues are fixed before you go live — not discovered by your first user.
- 06
Launch & handover
We deploy to production, hand over full documentation, and brief your team on the compliance architecture. Ongoing support is available for maintenance, iterations, and regulatory changes.
Fintech build cost comparison
Costs sourced from Clutch industry reports, Toptal surveys, and publicly available fintech case studies. 2024–2025 data.
| Provider type | Cost | Timeline | Compliance included? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional agency | $300,000+ | 12–18 months | Sometimes, at extra cost |
| Freelancer team | $80,000–$150,000 | 6–12 months | Rarely — requires specialists |
| Greta | Contact for quote | 4–8 weeks | Yes — always |
Frequently asked questions
Plain answers. No jargon.
What is fintech?+
Fintech is short for financial technology. It refers to any software that handles money. Payment apps, banking platforms, investment tools, lending products, and expense trackers are all fintech. The term covers both consumer-facing apps (used by individuals) and B2B platforms (used by businesses).
How long does it take to build a fintech MVP?+
With Greta, most fintech MVPs are ready in 4–8 weeks. Complex products with multiple compliance frameworks or unusual integrations can take up to 12 weeks. Traditional agencies typically quote 12–18 months for the same scope because they treat compliance as a separate phase rather than an integrated part of the build.
What compliance does my fintech product need?+
It depends on your product. Payment apps need PCI-DSS. EU-facing products need GDPR. Any product that onboards financial services users needs KYC. Products that could be used for money laundering need AML controls. We scope your compliance requirements in the first week of every engagement.
Can Greta build regulated fintech products?+
Yes. We build regulated fintech products including payment platforms, lending apps, and KYC onboarding systems. We do not hold financial licences ourselves, but we build the software that your regulated business or your banking-as-a-service partner requires. We work with your compliance team or appointed legal counsel to ensure the build meets regulatory requirements.
How much does fintech MVP development cost?+
Traditional agencies charge $300,000 or more. Freelancers often underprice the work and leave out compliance. Greta's pricing is project-specific — it depends on your feature scope and compliance requirements. Contact us and we will provide a detailed breakdown within 48 hours.
Do you offer ongoing maintenance after launch?+
Yes. Fintech products need ongoing compliance updates as regulations change. We offer maintenance retainers that cover bug fixes, dependency updates, security patches, and regulatory changes. Your compliance posture does not degrade after launch.
Build your compliant fintech MVP in 4–8 weeks.
Tell us what you are building. We will scope your compliance requirements and send a detailed plan within 48 hours. No commitment required.