Bank App Investment Feature
Enterprise UX • UX Strategy • Financial Services • Behavioural Design • Personalisation • Data Visualisation
Problem Statement
How might we redesign an investment feature for HSBC’s customers so that they feel confident engaging with digital discretionary investments, minimising cognitive load, building trust and encouraging discovery, while working within existing technical constraints, knowledge gaps, and a tight delivery timeline?
Objective
Redesign HSBC’s investment app feature to deliver a frictionless, personalised investment experience for mass and mass-affluent users, transforming a low engagement feature into a trusted, intuitive digital wealth tool.
Target audience
HSBC retail banking customers with moderate investment experience, including busy professionals seeking automated portfolio guidance.
Client
HSBC
Roll & Responsibilities
Role: Senior UX Designer
Responsibilities: Led end-to-end UX activities including research, persona development, journey mapping, design strategy, high-fidelity prototyping, and coordination with product and engineering teams across Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Research
Methodology
Conducted 12 informal interviews, app audits, and competitive benchmarking.
Synthesised insights into behavioural archetypes and mapped needs to HSBC’s business objectives.
Key Findings
Discoverability Gap
Users often saw the feature in-app but ignored it due to task-focused behavior and unclear value.
Experience Mismatch
Active investors preferred platforms like Interactive Brokers with granular control.
Trust vs Complexity
Users trusted HSBC but felt overwhelmed by jargon, fee opacity, and static PDF based reporting.
Segment Specific Needs
Novice users sought hand-holding and reassurance; experienced users wanted visual clarity and control.
Ideation
Approach
Mapped journey gaps and ideated around three opportunity areas.
Personalisation
Dynamic greeting, age-based projections, pre-filled guidance flows.
Transparency
Clear upfront pricing simulations and rebalancing logic.
Confidence Cues
HSBC branding, simple explainer content, and risk-adjusted scenarios.
Design
Design Challenges
Working within the existing mobile architecture and API limitations.
Presenting rich financial content without cognitive overload.
Designing for trust while nudging behavioural change.
Solutions
Designed investment simulators showing projected returns based on age, time horizon, and risk appetite.
Developed rich portfolio dashboards with color coded asset breakdowns and interactive gain/loss recaps.
Integrated contextual education content and smart notifications aligned to key moments (for example, rebalancing triggers).
Prioritised accessibility and localisation scalability in design system tokens.
Portfolio performance analysis
Error states
User Testing
Approach
Format
1-hour moderated, one-on-one prototype testing sessions via Zoom.
Participants
Total Participants
9 people.
Feedback Integration
Reduced decision steps significantly after observing drop-off at investment review screen.
Methodology
Qualitative research using an interactive prototype.
Age Range
25-50 (majority in their 30s).
Revised fee explanation screens with visual aids based on confusion during testing.
Duration
1 week
Investor Experience
4 beginner investors, 5 intermediate investors.
Iterated visual hierarchy and interaction microcopy to reinforce user confidence.
Customer Segments
Primarily HSBC One customers, with some Premier customers.
Digital Familiarity
All participants familiar with digital investment tools; some had not previously used robo-advisors.
Demographic Insight
The group largely represented mass affluent individuals with a strong preference for digital wealth management solutions.
Impact
Quantitative Results
Increase in adoption (benchmark: click-through rate on portfolio selection and engagement time).
Qualitative Feedback
Users reported increased confidence, with one tester stating, “This is the first time I understood what my portfolio is actually doing.”
Learnings
This project deepened my experience designing in regulated environments, balancing user trust with system constraints. I honed skills in prioritising features under strict delivery timelines, and refined stakeholder storytelling using customer insight as leverage.
Conclusion
This work represents more than a feature update, it repositions HSBC’s investment services to better serve modern customers who want clarity, trust, and control.
The project underscores the impact of user-centered design in regulated financial spaces and my ability to turn abstract requirements into outcomes that are measurable, scalable, and meaningful.