Create a Financial Services Portal In 3 Steps
Create a Financial Services Portal: Quick & Easy Guide
A financial services portal is a web-based platform that provides users with access to essential financial tools, account management, investment tracking, and other resources related to personal finance, banking, or investment services.
Financial services portals centralize important services and information, such as account details, transaction history, financial planning tools, and customer support, all in one place, making it easier for users to manage their finances and access the information they need.
However, creating a financial services portal can be challenging, especially if you don’t have technical coding knowledge.
That’s where portal builders like Five come into play, making it easier to develop and deploy customized financial services portals without extensive coding expertise.
Why Do You Need a Financial Services Portal?
A financial services portal provides clients with 24/7 access to their accounts, financial tools, and market information. This convenience means users can stay informed and engaged at any time, from anywhere.
From viewing account balances, tracking investments, making transactions, or receiving financial updates, a financial services portal streamlines operations, making it easier for users to interact with your financial institution.
For administrators and financial professionals, the benefits are just as significant.
A financial services portal reduces the administrative burden by automating tasks such as account management, client communication, and report generation. This not only saves time but also minimizes errors and ensures that all financial data is organized and easily accessible.
Admins can also use the portal to communicate with clients, monitor account performance, and manage financial products, all from one platform.
Components of Your Financial Services Portal
When building your financial services portal, you likely have some key features in mind, but there are a few essential components you might not have considered.
Firstly, a robust account management system is crucial for helping users manage their finances efficiently. This can include tools for viewing account balances, tracking transactions, and managing investments, ensuring that users have full control over their financial information.
Next, a user-friendly dashboard is essential for displaying relevant financial data, such as account summaries, investment portfolios, and quick links to important resources. This dashboard should also include tools for managing client details, submitting inquiries, and accessing support.
A backend database, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB, is necessary for storing financial data, user information, and other critical details. If managing a database seems daunting, tools like Five can simplify the process, making it easier to transition from a database to a fully functional financial services portal.
Additionally, incorporating security features such as encryption, two-factor authentication, and secure data storage is crucial for protecting sensitive financial information. Advanced security features can set your portal apart by ensuring that client data is protected at all times.
By including these components, you can create a financial services portal that not only meets your business needs but also enhances the overall user experience, making it a valuable tool for both users and financial professionals.
Build or Buy Your Financial Services Portal
When it comes to implementing a financial services portal, organizations face a critical decision: should you build a custom solution or buy an off-the-shelf product?
If you build one using tools like Five, you can develop exactly what you need without unnecessary features that add complexity. This allows you to tailor the portal to your organization’s specific requirements, ensuring a solution that fits perfectly with your existing processes and financial needs.
Building a custom financial services portal also means you can integrate it with your existing IT infrastructure, providing a seamless experience across all your systems. This ensures compatibility with your CRM, financial software, and other tools, allowing you to work efficiently without the constraints of third-party platforms.
Having control over your data is another significant benefit. With a custom-built portal, you retain full control over financial data, customer information, and transaction records, ensuring that sensitive information is protected. In contrast, off-the-shelf solutions may expose your data to third parties, posing potential security risks and limiting your control over your digital assets.
Building a secure financial services portal becomes much more manageable with Five. Five offers several advantages: it accelerates the portal development process, requires minimal coding knowledge, is more cost-effective than hiring a developer, and allows you to customize your portal to meet your organization’s unique needs.
In the long run, building a custom solution can also be more cost-effective. The licensing fees for off-the-shelf financial platforms can quickly add up, with many solutions costing thousands of dollars annually.
Given the significant costs and potential limitations associated with many off-the-shelf solutions, this further supports the case for building a custom solution, especially for financial institutions with specific needs or those looking for greater control over their digital infrastructure.
Creating a Financial Services Portal Can Be Easy
Building financial services portals used to be a daunting task, requiring extensive coding knowledge and leading many organizations to hire “expert developers” who often delivered subpar results.
Fortunately, times have changed, and creating financial services portals is now much easier with rapid portal builders like Five. These tools simplify the process, making it quicker and more accessible.
With Five, you no longer need to learn complex coding frameworks or spend hours researching expensive off-the-shelf solutions with high licensing fees. Instead, you can get started right away and have your financial services portal built and running in a single afternoon.
While there may be a slight learning curve, this approach is objectively better than traditional methods.
With Five, you can:
- Set up your web interface in minutes: Create a fully functional, custom financial services portal without needing extensive coding knowledge.
- Create a user-friendly, login-protected web interface: Ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive financial data, enhancing security.
- Easily import your existing data: Get started quickly by importing your current financial records and client information, making the transition smooth and efficient.
Get free access to Five here and start building your financial services portal today.
How to Create a Financial Services Portal with Five
If building your financial services portal with Five sounds intriguing, here’s a quick guide to get you started.
Step 1: Access Five
If you haven’t already, sign up for free access to Five. Five offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Depending on your project’s complexity and data storage needs, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan later.
Step 2: List Out Portal Attributes
Start by compiling a comprehensive list of all the attributes relevant to your financial services portal. Consider what matters most to your financial business: account management, customer profiles, transaction histories, and more. Your financial services portal should serve as a “single source of truth,” so make sure it’s as complete as possible.
Here are some essential attributes typically included in a financial services portal system:
- User authentication and profile management
- Account management with detailed attributes (balance, transaction history, etc.)
- Customer profiles with financial history
- Transaction tracking and documentation
- Integrated financial planning tools
- Reporting and analytics tools
Follow our YouTube tutorial on developing a membership application, which shares many similarities with a financial services portal. This seven-step guide covers everything from database modeling to previewing your completed application. The first tutorial step explains how to create a database table in Five.
This four-and-a-half-minute video is highly recommended if your primary goal is developing a financial services portal.
The video also demonstrates how to assign different SQL data types to your table fields and visually inspect your database schema using Five’s database modeler. Additionally, it shows how Five automatically adds primary keys to all your tables.
Step 3: Launch Your Financial Services Portal Online
Once your financial services portal database is ready and well-structured, you can begin populating it with the necessary data.
Using Five, you can easily upload CSV files directly into your database. Ensure that the columns in your CSV align with the fields in your database, and import the data into your database tables.
Additionally, you can create a user-friendly, web-based graphical user interface with Five. This interface can feature forms for adding or editing account details, charts for visualizing financial trends, and the ability to generate PDF reports, such as account summaries or transaction histories, using data from the database.
When you’re ready to deploy your financial services portal, sign up for one of our paid plans, starting at just $29.99 per month per application. This plan includes unlimited end-users and provides you with a custom URL to access the portal online.
For more detailed guidance, check out one of our step-by-step code-along guides.
Conclusion: Building a Financial Services Portal
A well-designed financial services portal is essential for businesses managing a growing portfolio of accounts and clients. With tools like Five, creating a custom financial services portal has become more accessible than ever.
No longer do businesses need to settle for one-size-fits-all solutions. Instead, they can rapidly build and deploy a financial services portal that truly meets their operational needs.
Get free access to Five here and start building your financial services portal today.
