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Accion MFB

Designing a Trust-Centered Mobile Banking Experience

In digital banking, usability is insufficient without trust.
User hesitation, not feature absence, was the core challenge.

As Principal Product Designer, my focus was transforming AccionMonie from a functional product into a confidence-driven financial experience.

Role:

Principal UX Designer

Industry:

Digital Banking

Year:

2020

View on App Store

View on App Store

the Problem: Confidence Debt

The existing application had evolved incrementally, shaped by compliance needs and feature expansion. While technically functional, the experience carried structural weaknesses typical of maturing financial products:

  • High cognitive effort in core flows

  • Fragmented interaction patterns

  • Inconsistent visual and behavioral language

  • Security mechanisms perceived as obstacles

Critical actions like onboarding, transfers and loans, introduced doubt at moments requiring confidence. The problem was not capability. It was trust and clarity.

Approach: Service-Level Reframing

Rather than a UI refresh, the redesign was treated as a service ecosystem problem.

Mobile banking spans multiple layers:

  • Compliance & KYC systems

  • Risk and validation processes

  • Feedback and confirmation loops

  • Perceived security signals

We mapped the service blueprint to align backend logic with front-end clarity.

Key insight: The system optimized for compliance integrity, not emotional clarity.

Design Principles

Trust was treated as a design system:

  • Predictability – Clear next steps

  • Clarity – Explain why actions are required

  • Feedback – Continuous reassurance

Solutions:

Onboarding & Security
Structured KYC into progressive stages, added explicit progress indicators, and contextual explanations.
Goal: reduce identity and security anxiety.

Account Upgrade

Reframed compliance steps as capability expansion.
Users saw benefits, requirements, and expectations upfront.

Fund Transfer

Redesigned for speed and error prevention:

  • Strong information hierarchy

  • Inline validation

  • High-clarity confirmations

Savings

Simplified mental models and setup flows.
Emphasized progress visibility and minimal friction.

Loan Experience

Replaced dense financial explanations with structured modules:

  • Early eligibility signals

  • Scannable repayment breakdowns

  • Explicit application states

Impact

The redesigned AccionMonie experience contributed to meaningful product and business outcomes:

  • 40,000+ Downloads
    Strong early adoption reflected improved user confidence, usability, and product appeal.

  • ₦20 Billion+ Transaction Volume
    Simplified flows and reduced friction supported higher engagement and transaction activity.

  • 400%+ Increase in Loan Approvals (First 6 Months)
    Improved clarity, decision support, and interaction design significantly boosted completion and approval rates.

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