The Challenge

SimSim was one of the earliest movers in the Pakistani Fintech and Digital Payments space. It laid the groundwork for popularizing digital wallets, QR payments, and mobile banking. Many of the Fintech organizations we've seen come up over the past few years used the awareness created by SimSim to launch their products. One of the organizations behind this app was FINCA Microfinance Bank. We partnered with them to ask: how might we reimagine their app in the post-pandemic fintech landscape of Pakistan?

Our Approach

The first task was to discover the fintech landscape of Pakistan, and assess it against those of similar emerging markets. We deeply studied the popular fintech apps in Pakistan, India, China, and Bangladesh to trace their histories and strategies for success. This helped us and FINCA to know where their app was in comparison to others, and allowed for a north star to be defined for the redesign. 

Working closely with FINCA, we defined our target audience, and spent weeks in the field conducting interviews and focus groups. We researched our current and potential users'  transaction preferences, spending and saving habits, opinions on loans, loan repayment management techniques, and general perception of digital payments apps and FINCA. We also took several printed prototypes of app redesign ideas to test in the field, and involved our participants in co-creative exercises for a product that will ultimately be for them.

Outcomes

Working alongside a brand design studio for part of the project, we reimagined SimSim as FINCA Pay. FINCA Pay enables users to take care of all their banking needs, quick money transfers, mobile top-ups, and loan management among other things; and it does so with a clean, fresh, and modern interface and experience. FINCA Pay is available on both iOS and Android.