How to Design Accessible FinTech and Bank Solutions?

Accessibility is crucial in UX design. Not only does it help you reach out to a wider audience, but it also will be required legally. In June 2025, the European Accessibility Act will come into force, requiring private businesses to apply to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 on the AA level. Let’s look into it in more detail.

Table of Contents

• Online Bank Accessibility and UX Design: The Main Principles
  • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
  • Accessibility Does Not Apply Only to People with Disabilities
• How to Design Accessible Online Banking and FinTech Solutions?
  • Alternative Texts and Audio Descriptions
  • Contrasts
  • Element Size
  • Flexibility
• The Takeaway

Online Bank Accessibility and UX Design: The Main Principles

While we can (and will) give you detailed insights on accessible UX design, we first need to discuss some principles. What are the basics that you need to know when designing new digital products?

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Firstly, you should read the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). While the European Accessibility Act (EAA) is based on WCAG 2.1, a newer version is currently available: WCAG 2.2. Why is it important?

The WCAG contains over 50 criteria, each described in detail. These guidelines are pretty straightforward, pointing out exactly what needs to be done on your website to ensure accessibility. They define color contrasts, the size of action boxes, best coding practices, the approach to non-textual elements, and so on. Hence, you should treat them as the basis for your designs.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are divided into three levels:

• A – minimum.
• AA – standards and norms.
• AAA – excellent.

Therefore, you should aim at least for the AA level, although fulfilling the AAA requirements may give you a competitive advantage, turning your bank into an institution friendly to people with disabilities.

Accessibility Does Not Apply Only to People with Disabilities

Secondly, you need to remember that accessibility is built for many different reasons. While it is mainly associated with sight disabilities, in fact, it is meant to serve people who:

• have a disability that prevents them from using the web like other users – for instance, they cannot see, have limited vision, are colorblind
• have temporary conditions that might limit their navigational capabilities – for instance, users who broke an arm and cannot scroll through your mobile app with two hands,
• have reading and attention disorders.

How to Design Accessible Online Banking and FinTech Solutions?

While the WCAG guidelines cover this topic extensively, we need to discuss the elements that you should focus on when designing an accessible mobile banking app or your FinTech applications. What’s most important?

Alternative Texts and Audio Descriptions

Firstly, you need to look at elements like photos and videos. Each of these should have an alternative text or an audio description (respectively) that provides the user with information on what it resembles. What’s more, videos should also have subtitles that include sound tags for those who cannot hear or cannot play them with sound.

Not every photo description should be the same. Agata Bernaś points out that the text should depend on the function of the graphic and distinguishes three of them:

• Decorative function – the text should be relatively short and written according to the standard principles (e.g., described top-to-bottom); e.g., a picture of the stock market on your trading page;
• Informative function – the description should start from the elements that bring informative value to the content; e.g., a screenshot of a particular function in your FAQ or manual describing how to navigate through the app;
• Educational function – this function is somewhere in the middle; it adds value to the text but isn’t an integral part of it; the description here should also be pretty general and focus on the educational side; e.g., a screenshot of your app alongside sales content promoting the download of your app.

Contrasts

The second thing you need to look into is the color contrast between visual elements. Again, you will find detailed information in the WCAG 2.2.

Element Size

This is one of the most important aspects of accessible UX design. Your clickable elements should be of a proper size that is easy to click on, even for those with restricted movements. At the same time, this is also an important factor in general UX design since too small elements may discourage all kinds of users.

Flexibility

Finally, you need to ensure that your designs are flexible enough to be accessible. This means providing alternative forms of interaction with particular elements in your app. A great example of this was presented in WCAG 2.2 – dragging is a movement that not every user can perform comfortably, so unless it’s essential, you should avoid it or provide the user with an alternative mechanism, like a flyout list or a click.

The Takeaway

Accessible UX design requires some knowledge and practices, whether we talk about FinTech apps or online banking platforms. Nevertheless, it’s pretty intuitive – the basic UX principles cover many of the guidelines. With the EAA underway, it’s crucial that you start thinking about accessibility right away and improve your apps as soon as possible. What if you don’t have the knowledge or resources to do so? Contact us at Ailleron – we will help you!

You may also read: Digital accessibility in the accelerating age.

References:

1. Bernaś, A. (2019). Audiodeskrypcja ilustracji prasowej: nowe doświadczenie w praktyce tłumacza. Rocznik Przekładoznawczy, 14. https://doi.org/10.12775/RP.2019.003

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