Bmo Online Banking

Reimagine a frictionless global transfer experience

Created a unified hub to streamline the transfer process and reduce drop off rate by 28%

Fintech

Web&Mobile

Product Design

User Research

Timeline

November 2024 - March 2025

Platform

Responsive Web Application

Deliverables

Design & Prototype

Design System

User Research

team

2 Product Designers

2 Product Managers

1 Content Designer

1 Researcher

4 Developers

📖 CONTEXT

With 2.1 billion people are still underbanked, digital wallet payouts can close the gap and unlock a $15.4 trillion market by 2032.

BMO is integrating digital wallet payouts (sending money directly to someone's phone app) to stay competitive. This initiative offers a chance to consolidate everything into a centralized, user-friendly hub that meets diverse customer needs.

BMO is integrating digital wallet payouts (sending money directly to someone's phone app) to stay competitive. This initiative offers a chance to revamp the experience to meet diverse customer needs.

What's my role in this?

I led the redesign from the ground up, driving strategy through research, prototyping, and systems thinking to align user needs with business success. Through collaborating with the cross-functional team, I secured stakeholder buy-in to expand the scope and resources using data-driven insights.

📖 CONTEXT

With 2.1 billion people are still underbanked, digital wallet payouts can close the gap and unlock a $15.4 trillion market by 2032.

BMO is integrating digital wallet payouts (sending money directly to someone's phone app) to stay competitive. This initiative offers a chance to consolidate everything into a centralized, user-friendly hub that meets diverse customer needs.

What's my role in this?

I led the redesign from the ground up, driving strategy through research, prototyping, and systems thinking to align user needs with business success. Through collaborating with the cross-functional team, I secured stakeholder buy-in to expand the scope and resources using data-driven insights.

🧐 Problem

Does the current global transfer flow meets the diverse customer needs?

Through research and analysis, we uncovered a fragmented, confusing global transfer experience that leaves customers unsure and hesitant when sending money to loved ones.

3 fragmented payment experiences

Related services scatter across platform without centralized hub and easy-to-find entry points.

27 issued found in heuristic evaluation

“No clear entry point to even start the transfer flow!”

38% drop off before user input

The current flow demands 3–8 minutes of user data entry upfront, before a rate is even shown.

32% online comments curious on how this work

Digital wallet being a new terminology and payout services need more context and guidance.

🧐 Problem

Does the current global transfer flow meets the diverse customer needs?

Through research and analysis, we uncovered a fragmented, confusing global transfer experience that leaves customers unsure and hesitant when sending money to loved ones.

3 fragmented payment experiences

Related services scatter across platform without centralized hub and easy-to-find entry points.

27 issued found in heuristic evaluation

“No clear entry point to even start the transfer flow!”

38% drop off before user input

The current flow demands 3–8 minutes of user data entry upfront, before a rate is even shown.

32% online comments curious on how this work

Digital wallet being a new terminology and payout services need more context and guidance.

📱 Final Design

Introducing a unified global transfer hub that brings digital wallet payouts and traditional transfers into one seamless experience.

Through rigorous research and user testings, we restructured send money experience around user mental models, surfacing clear and relevant information at each decision point to build confidence and trust. The redesign launched mid-2025 for both web and mobile online banking with strong quarterly performance.

28% drop-off rate reduction
17% adoption of new payment methods
83% user satisfaction rate

View Prototype

View Prototype

📱 Final Design

Introducing a unified global transfer hub that brings digital wallet payouts and traditional transfers into one seamless experience.

Through rigorous research and user testings, we restructured send money experience around user mental models, surfacing clear and relevant information at each decision point to build confidence and trust. The redesign launched mid-2025 for both web and mobile online banking with strong quarterly performance.

28% drop-off rate reduction
17% adoption of new payment methods
83% user satisfaction rate

View Prototype

View Prototype

✍🏼Process

How I navigate the ambiguity…

Navigate the ambiguity through understand the users

Research

-Heuristic evaluation

-Competitive analysis

-Customer feedback research

Problem Framing

-Define opportunities & requirements

-System mapping

-Define success metric

-Identify opportunities

-Reframe the problem & scope

-System mapping

-Define success metric

Ideation

-User journey mapping

-Design workshop

-Prototyping

-Component creation

Testing & Iterating

-Usability testing

-Iterating

-MVP prioritization

-Dev annotation

✍🏼Process

How I navigate the ambiguity…

Research

-Heuristic evaluation

-Competitive analysis

-Customer feedback research

Problem Framing

-Define opportunities & requirements

-System mapping

-Define success metric

Ideation

-User journey mapping

-Design workshop

-Prototyping

-Component creation

Testing & Iterating

-Usability testing

-Iterating

-MVP prioritization

-Dev annotation

⁉️ Challenge

A small ask that uncovered a deeper problem worth solving

With no spec to work from, I proactively dug into existing flow, competitors, and user feedbacks. What emerged was a shared industry flaw: flows built around collecting information rather than helping users make confident decisions. This reframed the challenge from adding a feature to rethinking the experience entirely.

✒️ design & iteration

Balancing technical constraints with user needs to shape the right flow

Technical constraints required tradeoffs between simplicity and transparency. I explored multiple flow structures with the cross-functional team, landing on an approach that surfaced key information earlier while moving user input later to reduce commitment before a decision was made.

🧪 testing

Testing that validated the design and surfaced insights beyond the brief

I shaped the research direction through targeted participant recruitment based on domain knowledge built throughout the project, unlocking richer insights on the digital wallet flow. Results validated the design, generated data to push back on stakeholder pressure, and uncovered findings that informed MVP prioritization.

80% users utilized 'Send Money' CTA as entry point across both tasks
65% users considered the required information page important
70% users considered Currency Watchlist to be 'Nice to have'

💎Takeaway

Look beyond the brief

The initial ask is just the starting point; real opportunities come from uncovering what truly matters.

Design with Empathy, Validate with Users

Step into their world and test early to surface real pain points.

Actions Need Context

Great UX isn’t just about what users do, but what they understand along the way.

💎Takeaway

Look beyond the brief

The initial ask is just the starting point; real opportunities come from uncovering what truly matters.

Design with Empathy, Validate with Users

Step into their world and test early to surface real pain points.

Actions Need Context

Great UX isn’t just about what users do, but what they understand along the way.