Project Background

Consumer protection and financial education are core mandates for central banks worldwide. In many markets, consumers struggle to make informed choices when selecting financial products. Fee structures are complex, terminology varies across institutions, and making comparisons between products and providers can be difficult. As a result, consumers may select suboptimal products, incur avoidable costs or spend an inordinate amount of time trying to compare options, breeding mistrust and frustration within the financial system.

Recognizing these challenges, a central bank in the Middle East is in the process of building a real-time tool that captures fee and product information from all domestic financial institutions and displays it in an easy to digest format for consumers. This tool will allow consumers to easily compare different financial products across institutions and empower consumers to make an informed decision.

To support this effort, a team from DANA, a digital wallet fintech company, conducted targeted research through a secondment project under the Private-Public Secondments for SupTech Innovation (PPSSI) program. The objective of the secondment was to assess existing global fee comparison tools to help inform the design of the central bank’s future solution.

Research and Outcomes

The team from DANA reviewed nine different fee comparison tools, five from financial authorities, and four from the private sector. The team assessed the user experience, governance mechanisms, and data update processes of each tool to understand how accuracy, transparency, and timeliness were maintained over time.

The secondment team consolidated the findings into a final document, including an analysis of each tool’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as a summary of key takeaways the central bank team should consider as they develop the fee comparability tool.

Based on the research and survey conducted, the team came up with the following key aspects of a user-friendly fee comparison tool:

• Simplicity: Intuitive navigation, clear language, and avoidance of information overload.
• Transparency: Clear disclosure of data sources, update frequency, and any limitations of the tool.
• Guidance: Contextual tips, explanations, and live support integrated throughout the user journey.
• Personalization: Default scenarios for common user needs, with options for advanced customization.
• Actionability: Downloadable and printable results, along with direct calls-to-action such as “Contact this bank.”
• Inclusive Design: Multiple language options, accessible reading levels, and features supporting users with visual impairments.

One of the strongest insights from the research was that consumer-facing transparency tools are only as effective as the clarity and consistency of the underlying data. 

Beyond interface design, sustainable impact depends on well-defined update processes, clear data ownership, and governance structures that ensure information remains accurate and trustworthy over time. 

Effective fee transparency is not only about presenting information, but about enabling consumers to make confident, informed decisions. Jason Widjaja, Lead UX Researcher at DANA and secondee on this project noted “By studying a range of global tools, we saw how thoughtful design choices, from clear language to inclusive access, can significantly improve financial understanding and reduce information asymmetry in the market.”

Next Steps

Building on these insights, the central bank is well-positioned to move forward in the fee-comparability tool development process, and plans to do so. By leveraging global best practices and lessons learned from the DANA team’s research, the central bank can avoid common pitfalls and ensure that consumers drive the most benefit from the final product. 

About the Project Partners

DANA 

DANA is a digital wallet-based technology financial company that provides payment platforms and financial services in Indonesia. Since its launch in December 2018, DANA has now reached more than 200 million users in Indonesia. DANA provides complete digital transaction solutions that are safe, easy and convenient for users, merchants and financial institutions. The DANA solution, developed by leading financial technology engineers in Indonesia, aims to advance and accelerate financial literacy and inclusion in Indonesia. Apart from empowering digital finance, DANA also seeks to encourage Indonesian society through impactful social initiatives that focus on empowering women and preserving the environment. 

 Seconded expert from DANA:

• Jason Widjaja, Lead UX Researcher

 Public-Private Secondments for SupTech Innovation

Co-led by the World Economic Forum and the Cambridge SupTech Lab, this initiative connects technical experts from the private sector with financial authorities through short-term secondments. The goal is to accelerate innovation in supervision and regulation by solving practical challenges with cutting-edge technology.