Designing Growth in Digital Banking
Turning complex fintech services into seamless user experiences for people and companies.
Company
e.Kuantia
Role
Product Designer
Project duration
3 years
Year
2014 - 2017
Understanding a hybrid financial ecosystem
As the first Electronic Money Institution (EMI) in Spain, e.Kuantia operated in uncharted territory.
We weren’t competing with other fintechs, there simply weren’t any. Our biggest challenge was designing a fully digital banking experience in parallel with meeting the strict requirements of the Bank of Spain and the European Central Bank.
Our focus wasn’t growth or acquisition; it was validation and compliance. Every decision revolved around aligning user experience with regulation, encryption protocols, and traceability standards.
Despite the lack of data, benchmarks, or precedents, we managed to launch the platform and issue more than 1,000 prepaid cards, proving that a compliant, human-centered fintech experience was possible in Spain.
Insights & Research
Operating in a highly regulated environment meant that user needs were often overshadowed by legal requirements.
However, through continuous observation and collaboration with compliance teams, I identified three key insights:
Trust beats innovation. Users cared less about cutting-edge features and more about knowing their money was safe.
Clarity drives compliance. The teams monitoring anti–money laundering (AML) operations needed interfaces that surfaced anomalies clearly, without cognitive overload.
Familiarity builds confidence. Visual patterns similar to traditional banking systems helped first-time digital users feel secure and in control.
These insights shaped the foundation of the design strategy: bringing human clarity to complex financial systems.
Design solutions
I designed three interconnected products that worked as a single digital ecosystem:
Anti–Money Laundering System (AML)
A dashboard for compliance officers to monitor transactions, flag suspicious activity, and ensure traceability. The challenge was to design a dense data interface that remained readable under pressure. I prioritized hierarchy, visual alerts, and semantic color use to make risk visible without noise.
e.Banking Platform
The core product — an online banking portal for managing balances, prepaid cards, and transfers. Every interaction had to pass strict audit requirements, so I built a modular structure that kept complexity hidden from the user while maintaining full regulatory transparency.
Payments App
A mobile extension focused on everyday use. Instant reloads, spending summaries, and card management. The visual system echoed the trust cues of Visa and Mastercard, while the UX emphasized speed and control. Despite the uncertainty, this product achieved over 1,000 active prepaid cards shortly after launch.
Impact & Results
The project not only achieved regulatory compliance and product launch objectives in a market as regulated as the financial sector in Spain, but also managed to issue its first cards for use throughout its network in Spain.
Official certification and approval by the Bank of Spain and the European Central Bank, allowing the company to operate as one of the first Electronic Money Institutions in Spain.
Launch of Levo, a new white-label brand that entered the market with prepaid cards under full regulatory compliance.
Integration of external brands, such as Audax, enabling prepaid card issuance within their own financial ecosystems.
1,000+ prepaid cards sold during the initial rollout, validating user trust and early adoption.
Improved onboarding efficiency, reducing KYC and account activation time by 3x.
40% faster fraud detection and monitoring for the AML team, thanks to the improved data visualization dashboards.
What I learned as a Product Designer
Designing in fintech taught me that trust is the ultimate interface.
In a landscape ruled by regulation and risk, design becomes the language that bridges technology, compliance, and human confidence.
I learned to make progress with no data, no references, and no precedent. Just a deep understanding of user behavior, stakeholder alignment, and iterative problem-solving.
Most importantly, I learned that innovation isn’t always about new features; sometimes, it’s about making the complex understandable, reliable, and humane.
Let’s connect
Thanks for reading! If you’re hiring, collaborating, or just curious about my work — feel free to drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.
