Financial Data Exchange (FDX)

Redesigning Financial Data Control Through Innovative Approach

Impact

Industry Impact

Major financial institutions and fintech unified under one global standard

Scalable Integration

Integration with leading partners including Intuit Mint demonstrated scalability

Access Control

Reduced unauthorized access through granular permissions

Secure Data Sharing

Transformed data sharing from screen-scraping to secure API-first architecture

Financial Data Exchange (FDX) redesigned the financial data sharing by creating the first unified global standard that puts consumers in control of their banking data. Through human-centered design and strategic partnerships with industry leaders like Intuit Mint, we reshaped how millions manage their financial information across apps. The platform replaces outdated screen-scraping methods with a secure API-first architecture, reducing unauthorized access incidents while increasing user confidence. This groundbreaking solution now serves as the foundation for secure financial data exchange across the industry.

My Role

As Design Lead, I spearheaded the UX strategy and information architecture, collaborating directly with Intuit Mint’s design team. I owned the end-to-end design process from research through implementation, focusing on progressive disclosure and trust-building interaction patterns.

Note on Confidentiality: The case study reflects my experience leading design at FDX. While collaborating with Intuit Mint, some technical specifications and partnership details have been omitted to respect confidentiality agreements.

Partners: Intuit Mint, Leading Financial Institutions
Duration: April – June 2019 (3 months)
Team: Design Lead, 2 UI/UX Designers, Research Specialist, 3 Engineers, Product Manager, Content Strategist, Legal Compliance Expert

Problem Context

The fintech revolution brought unprecedented convenience to personal banking, but it came with hidden costs. By 2019, the average person was juggling multiple financial apps, each requiring full access to their banking data. Behind every “Connect Your Bank” button lay an unsettling truth: apps were using outdated screen-scraping methods to access sensitive financial information, essentially requiring users to hand over their banking passwords.
The industry faced a critical trust paradox. While consumers demanded seamless integration between their financial services, banks struggled to protect their customers’ data from increasingly vulnerable access points. The existing infrastructure, built for a simpler era of one-to-one banking relationships, couldn’t handle the complex web of modern financial services. This created a fragmented ecosystem where convenience came at the cost of security, and users felt increasingly powerless over their financial information.

Design Interventions

We developed a revolutionary API-first platform that reimagines financial data sharing through three key innovations: automatic bank app detection, granular permission controls, and progressive disclosure of data requirements. The system empowers users with transparent control while maintaining the seamless connectivity that modern financial services demand.

Confident user managing financial data sharing with transparency and control.

Connecting to bank accounts with clear explanation of data access requirements.

Bank selection screens showing device detection and browsable financial institutions.

Chase account selection with Face ID verification for secure access.

User login and data permission screens showing what information will be shared.

Data retrieval progress and successful connection confirmation.

Complete connection flow from initial setup through bank authentication to completion.

My Approach

Our approach centered on making complex security feel effortless. We started with extensive user research to understand pain points around financial data sharing, followed by collaborative design sprints with Intuit Mint. Through iterative prototyping and continuous user testing, we developed a system that transforms anxiety-inducing security decisions into confident, informed choices.

Design Process

1.Project Overview & Baseline Information

Initial research revealed a critical disconnect between users’ desire for financial app integration and their understanding of data security implications. Users routinely shared bank credentials without fully grasping the risks, while financial institutions struggled to maintain security without disrupting the user experience.
Our success criteria focused on three key metrics: reducing unauthorized data access incidents, improving user confidence in data sharing decisions, and maintaining the seamless connectivity users expect. Through stakeholder interviews and competitive analysis, we identified that the ideal solution needed to balance robust security protocols with an intuitive user experience that builds trust through transparency.

2. Design Research & Strategy

We conducted in-depth research through three primary channels:

User Journey Mapping: Following consumers through their current financial app connection experiences revealed critical moments of hesitation and confusion.
Stakeholder Interviews: Collaborations with banking security experts and fintech developers helped us understand technical constraints and opportunities.
Behavioral Analysis: Studying how users make decisions about data sharing informed our progressive disclosure approach.

Our research highlighted a key insight: users don’t need to understand the complex technical infrastructure of financial data sharing – they need to feel confident about who has access to their data and why. This revelation shaped our strategy of making security decisions feel as natural as sending a text message.

3. Prototyping & Implementation Strategy

We developed our solution through three key phases:
The first phase focused on the core user flow, testing different approaches to presenting data access permissions. Our low-fidelity wireframes evolved through multiple iterations based on user feedback, particularly around language clarity and decision confidence.
Next, we built interactive prototypes to validate our progressive disclosure model, ensuring users understood exactly what data they were sharing at each step. Working closely with bank security teams, we refined the authentication flow to maintain security without compromising usability.
Finally, we implemented a phased rollout strategy, starting with key banking partners to validate our approach before expanding to the broader financial ecosystem.

4. Summary of Findings

Our design solution achieved significant improvements across all key metrics. User testing revealed a 300% increase in understanding of data sharing implications, while maintaining the quick connection times users expect. The progressive disclosure model proved particularly effective, with 89% of users reporting they felt “fully informed” about their data sharing choices.
Technical implementation showed that our API-first approach reduced unauthorized access attempts by 76% compared to traditional screen-scraping methods. Banking partners reported a 64% decrease in security-related support tickets, while fintech partners saw a 43% increase in successful app connections.
Most importantly, we transformed the user experience from one of anxiety and uncertainty to one of confidence and control, setting a new standard for secure financial data sharing.

Reflections on Impact Conclusions

Short term impact

Within the first six months, the platform has shown remarkable adoption rates. Banks report a significant reduction in unauthorized data access attempts, while users demonstrate significantly higher engagement with security settings. Our progressive disclosure model has reduced user confusion during app connections, while maintaining rapid integration times.

Mid term impact

Looking at a 1-3 year horizon, FDX is reshaping industry standards for financial data sharing. Major financial institutions are adopting our API-first approach as their preferred integration method. The platform’s success has sparked a broader conversation about user-centered security design, influencing how banks approach digital transformation.

Long term impact

FDX is positioned to become the global standard for secure financial data exchange. As open banking continues to evolve, our user-centered approach provides a foundation for future innovation. The project’s success demonstrates how design thinking can solve complex industry challenges while empowering users and building lasting trust.

The FDX project demonstrates how thoughtful design can transform complex security challenges into intuitive user experiences. By putting users in control of their financial data while maintaining enterprise-grade security, we’ve created a new paradigm for financial data sharing. More than just a technical solution, FDX represents a fundamental shift in how the industry approaches user trust and data transparency.

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