Fintal: Digitally Engineered for Finance

Tagline: Fintal — Digitally Engineered for Finance

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Overview

Fintal represents the next evolution in banking management, seamlessly blending traditional financial systems with modern digital innovation. The name Finance + Digital reflects our core mission: delivering comprehensive, efficient banking solutions for the digital age.

Built as a Java Core backend project, Fintal serves as both an academic 4th-semester database project and an industry-grade banking solution with professional-level functionality.

🚀 Hashnode Article

Developing Fintech Apps using Core Java, Stripe API, and MySQL

🚀 Main Features

• 💳 Real Money Transactions - Stripe integration for actual payment processing
• 👥 Multi-Role Authentication - Admin, Staff, and Customer dashboards
• 📄 Smart Bill Management - CSV upload and automated bill processing
• 🔒 Enterprise Security - BCrypt encryption and secure session management
• 📧 Real-time Notifications - SendGrid email integration for instant alerts
• 💱 Inter-Account Transfers - Seamless money transfers between accounts
• 📊 Advanced Analytics - Comprehensive transaction reporting and insights
• 🎨 Modern UI - Professional interface with FlatLaf design system

Fintal delivers a complete banking ecosystem with secure transaction processing, user management, integrated payment gateways, and real-time notifications - engineered for both learning and professional deployment.

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Features

• Multi-Role Access & Dedicated Dashboards:

  • Admin: Comprehensive control over user and staff management, transaction oversight, loan approval processes, and branch monitoring. Presents insightful dashboards for system-wide analytics.
  • Staff: Efficiently manage customer accounts, process bill payments, and provide essential transaction assistance through dedicated interfaces.
  • Customer: Empowered with self-service capabilities to upload and pay bills (via CSV parsing or direct input), conduct secure fund transfers, and gain a clear view of their financial status through personalized dashboards. Beneficiaries can also seamlessly upload bills for processing.

• Robust Transaction Management:

  • Inter-Account Transfers: Facilitates seamless and secure fund transfers between accounts within the system.
  • ACID Compliance: Ensures the integrity and reliability of financial transactions through real-time commit and rollback mechanisms, adhering to Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability (ACID) properties.
  • Secure Password Handling: Employs the industry-leading BCrypt algorithm for robust password hashing, safeguarding user credentials.

• Integrated Bill Management System:

  • CSV Bill Upload: Streamlines bill submission through efficient CSV parsing using OpenCSV, allowing users and beneficiaries to upload multiple bills simultaneously.
  • Direct Bill Payment: Enables users to conveniently pay uploaded bills directly through the platform.

• Real Money Transactions via Stripe API:

  • Seamless integration with the Stripe API facilitates real-world monetary payments and transfers, providing a secure and reliable payment gateway.

• Real-time Notifications with SendGrid:

  • Integrated with SendGrid to deliver timely email notifications for critical events, including transaction alerts, confirmations, and other important account updates, enhancing user engagement and security.

• Beautiful Dashboards:

  • Role-based dashboards with insightful charts and reports provide a clear overview of financial data.
  • Built with FlatLaf for a modern, flat, and aesthetically pleasing UI appearance, enhancing user experience.

• Database & Architecture:

  • Adheres to a proper MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture with a clean, maintainable, and scalable structure.
  • Supports essential banking entities: accounts, customers, loans, branches, staff, transactions, bills, and more, ensuring a comprehensive data model.

• Security & Reliability:

  • Implements robust password hashing using BCrypt and secure data handling practices.
  • Leverages email notifications for transaction verification and alerts to enhance security and user trust.

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Technology Stack

Layer	Technology / Library	Purpose
Backend	Java Core	Primary programming language and framework
Database	MySQL with JDBC Connector	Relational database management
Payment Gateway	Stripe API	Processing real-time monetary transactions
Email Service	SendGrid	Sending automated email notifications
CSV Parsing	OpenCSV	Efficient parsing of CSV files for bills
JSON Parsing	Gson	Serialization/deserialization of JSON data
Password Hashing	BCrypt	Secure one-way hashing of passwords
UI Theme	FlatLaf	Modern and flat look-and-feel for the UI

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Database Tables

The Fintal database, fintaldb, is structured with the following key tables to manage all banking operations:

Table Name	Description
account	Stores account details and balances.
admin	Admin user information and credentials.
customer	Customer details and profile information.
triggers	Database triggers for automatic processes (e.g., balance updates on transactions).
bill	Details of bills uploaded and managed.
branch	Bank branch information and details.
loan_application	Records loan applications and their status.
staff	Staff user information and roles.
transaction	Records of all financial transactions.

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Installation & Setup

To get Fintal up and running on your local machine, follow these steps:

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone [https://github.com/safi-io/fintal.git](https://github.com/safi-io/fintal.git)
   cd fintal

2. Configure Database:

   • Create a MySQL database named fintal.
   • Execute any provided SQL scripts to set up tables and triggers. For instance:
   • SQL Scripts are povided in Helping Files for each table.

     CREATE DATABASE fintal;
     USE fintal;
     -- Run your table creation and trigger scripts here
     -- e.g., SOURCE Helping Files/schema.sql;
     

3. Set Environment Variables:

   • Copy example.config.properties to config.properties in the resources directory.
   • Edit config.properties and replace the placeholder values with your actual database and API credentials:

     db.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/fintal
     db.username=your_db_username
     db.password=your_db_password
     stripe.secret.key=your_stripe_secret_key
     sendgrid.secret.key=your_sendgrid_secret_key

4. Build the Project:

   • Import the project into your preferred Java IDE (Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans) as a Java project.
   • Ensure all necessary external libraries (listed in the Technology Stack) are added to the project's build path.

5. Run the Application:

   • Execute the main application class from your IDE. The backend server will start, following the MVC architecture, and will serve the dashboards and APIs accordingly.

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Required JAR Libraries

The following external JAR libraries are used in this project:

Library Name	Version	Purpose
FlatLaf	3.3	Provides a modern, flat look-and-feel for Swing-based UIs
JBCrypt	0.4	Implements BCrypt hashing for secure password storage
Apache Commons Lang3	3.12.0	Provides utility classes for core Java classes (String, Number, etc.)
Gson	2.10.1	Converts Java objects to JSON and vice versa
MySQL Connector/J	9.3.0	JDBC driver for connecting Java applications to MySQL databases
OpenCSV	5.11	Simplifies reading and writing of CSV files
SendGrid Java	latest	Sends transactional and marketing emails via the SendGrid API
Stripe Java	29.1.0	Integrates Stripe payment processing in Java applications

⚠️ Ensure all JAR files are added to your classpath or build tool (Directly in your IDE).

Usage

Fintal provides distinct functionalities tailored for each user role:

• Admin:

  • Manage user accounts (customers and staff).
  • View and monitor all system-wide transactions.
  • Approve or reject loan applications.
  • Monitor and manage bank branches.
  • Access comprehensive system reports and analytics.

• Staff:

  • Manage customer accounts (creation, updates, inquiries).
  • Assist customers with various transactions.
  • Process and manage bill payments on behalf of customers.

• Customers:

  • Securely upload bills for payment (via CSV or manual input).
  • Make payments for uploaded bills.
  • Transfer funds between accounts.
  • View personalized dashboards with transaction history and account summaries.

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Screenshots

Login Screen

Customer Dashboard

Loan Management

Money Transfer

Payment Checkout (Stripe Gateway)

Forgot Password (Through Mail)

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Contributing

Contributions to Fintal are welcome! If you have suggestions for improvements, new features, or bug fixes, please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a new feature branch (git checkout -b feature/YourFeatureName).
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add new feature').
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/YourFeatureName).
5. Submit a pull request.

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License

This project is intended solely for educational purposes and is not licensed for commercial use.

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Contact

For any queries, issues, or feedback regarding Fintal, please feel free to reach out:

• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/safi-io/fintal/issues
• Email: m.safi.ullah@outlook.com

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Thank you for exploring Fintal — Digitally Engineered for Finance!