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Accessible mobile banking thanks to regular testing

12.12.2023

To enable people with disabilities to use accessible mobile banking, online services must comply with WCAG guidelines. PostFinance’s digital channels have been largely accessible to everyone for many years, not least thanks to regular testing with people with disabilities.

Making payments, viewing an overview of their assets or changing settings: for many people with restricted vision, hearing or mobility or age-related disabilities, being able to carry out banking transactions independently from home or while on the move via accessible mobile banking is vital. All too often they still face insurmountable obstacles. But it’s different at PostFinance. The financial service provider has ensured accessible use of its digital services on its website since 2009 – and the PostFinance App is also as accessible as possible to everyone.

Accessible mobile banking for customers

To name some examples, blind people can have content read aloud via a voice output feature, people with visual impairments can enlarge text and images and people who are hard of hearing can watch videos thanks to subtitles: PostFinance employees see accessible mobile banking as much more than simply a duty. They believe that inclusion goes without saying, ensuring that nobody is excluded in our increasingly digital world and customers can manage their finances easily and securely 24/7 from anywhere. To achieve this now and in future, the internal E-Accessibility department takes all possible measures and organizes testing with those directly affected.

About

Irène Wyss works in the E-Accessibility department at PostFinance, which raises awareness, provides advice and organizes courses and tests to ensure that accessibility is implemented.

Irène, how can accessible mobile banking be ensured?

Standard elements are used in combination with accessible in-house components developed from scratch. The accessibility requirements are based on the standard eCH-0059 . These federal guidelines also make reference to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 (conformity level AA). The international standard is technology-neutral and applies to apps, desktop applications and ATM software, PDFs, etc. Compliance with WCAG ensures that input fields can be detected, implemented and used by technological aids. On smartphones, the preinstalled screenreader (VoiceOver on the iPhone and TalkBack on Android devices) can easily be activated, and the read-aloud feature already works for the PostFinance App.

What are PostFinance’s requirements in terms of accessibility to its app?

Digital banking services must be accessible to all customers – that means accessible use of all customer-relevant functions in the PostFinance App must be ensured. To guarantee the right quality of accessible mobile banking, we test our standards with the people directly affected at least four times a year.

What is the procedure for testing accessible mobile banking?

PostFinance developers, business analysts, product owners and the E-Accessibility team are all involved in testing, as well as test users with a visual impairment. Under the observation of participants, users carry out tests on accessible mobile banking to ensure that all technological aids work properly at code level. Problems, obstacles and solutions are then discussed. The goal is to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. Thanks to the testing, feedback from our customers who rely on accessible use of the PostFinance App has mainly been positive and constructive.

In the following video, participants explain their role in testing the PostFinance App. 

Digital accessibility at Swiss banks

The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences analysed how well Swiss banks ensure inclusion for people with disabilities using the example of accessibility to their websites. The results published in April 2023 show a mixed picture. The study concludes that almost all banks still have quite a bit of work to do. That’s despite the fact that ensuring accessibility will become mandatory for all Swiss banks operating in the EU area from the end of 2024 under the European Accessibility Act (EAA).

What you need to know about accessibility

What does WCAG mean? How does PostFinance implement accessibility? What links does PostFinance have with the “Access for All” foundation? Find out more now.

  • For over 20 years, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has defined the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to prevent people with disabilities from being excluded from using digital services. The international guidelines are based on four principles.

    Perceivable: This includes high-contrast presentation of web content for people with visual impairments and text as an alternative to graphic elements for people who are blind.

    Operable: Navigation is extremely important. Websites must be usable without a mouse and contain jump links so that content can be accessed without too many clicks.

    Understandable: All information should be provided in clear and simple language. The title and form fields must be clearly labelled.

    Robust: Websites should be compatible with screen readers, alternative keyboards and other assistance systems.

  • Example 1: All videos on PostFinance’s website are subtitled to ensure that the content is accessible to people with hearing difficulties. Subtitles can also help people to better understand what is being said.

    Example 2: Graphics or images on the website that show relevant content have “alternative texts” embedded in their code describing what’s in the graphic or text. These alternative texts are captured by the screen reader and read out loud.

    Example 3: Access keys facilitate quick access to certain websites and content via the keyboard. This is of great benefit to users who prefer using the computer keyboard instead of the mouse.

  • PostFinance has repeatedly received awards from the certification body “Access for All” for its consistent implementation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG, AA). But PostFinance is not resting on its laurels. Technological progress must be constantly monitored to enable continuous improvement to the accessibility of web content. That’s why PostFinance carries out periodic quality checks and engages in permanent experience-sharing with the “Access for All” foundation.

    Find out more about “Access for All” at The link will open in a new window access-for-all.ch.

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