the trade
It starts with a number.
€1,000,000 needs to become dollars.
EUR/USD  1.1000
the old way
By the time a rate reaches you, it is already old.
Deal rate
1.1000
Deal rate timed out00:00
call the branch → wait for the trader → get a callback → re-quote
fx online
Verify the customer, see the live rate, and lock it yourself.
🇪🇺 EUR → 🇺🇸 USD1,000,000
Time left to book01:30
Place your order
shipped · emirates nbd
0
live deals booked this way. No calls. No fear.
FX online · fintech · internal B2B

exchange currency without the fear.

Relationship managers and treasury traders had ninety seconds to agree and book a live FX rate. I led the end-to-end design of a shared deal-order flow that exposed the market rate, margin, profit, and expiry before commitment.

16,265
FX deals booked through the platform by May 2025.
Deals booked
262Mn ↑
AED in booked value on the FX Online platform.
Booked value (AED)
400+ ↑
RMs & Traders onboarded; 40% lift in perceived task clarity.
Users onboarded

live-platform figures reported by the business & stakeholders · as of May 2025

Case snapshot
Role

Sr. Product Designer · FX Online, Emirates NBD

Team

Team of 8, architects, 4 backend, 2 frontend, me on design

Timeline

Sept 2024, Apr 2025 · Dubai

Tools

Figma · usability testing

What I did

Owned research, the relationship-manager and trader journeys, rate negotiation, deal booking, dashboards, authentication, edge cases, and the responsive design system. The bet: show the full price, not just the headline rate.

Impact

16,265 deals booked worth 262Mn AED on the platform by May 2025; 400+ RMs and traders onboarded.

Constraints

Rates that changed continuously, quotes that expired after 90 seconds, and authority, audit & compliance requirements across two desks.

01 · Context

rates that move every 90 seconds.

At Emirates NBD, Relationship Managers and Treasury negotiate currency deals where the market rate updates every millisecond. The job was to simplify a brutally complex, time-pressured system, so RMs and Traders could agree a rate and book with confidence, fast.

02 · Problem

no one trusted the rate.

01

A rate you couldn't trust

The headline rate and the post-margin rate were never shown together, so no one was sure what they'd actually book.

02

Rates that move

Quotes changed mid-negotiation, and the 90-second window could expire before the deal was confirmed.

03

A booked deal can't be unwound

Once an RM books, it's live in the market, but the screen gave no confident final review before commit.

04

Two desks, one blind spot

RM and Treasury negotiated from different views, with authority limits (DOA) surfacing only after the fact.

“
the signal · user interviews
how do I know this is the real rate?
Relationship ManagersTreasury tradersOps
Trust in the quoted rate, not features, was what made or broke a transfer.
03 · The shift

from guesswork to a clear quote.

Booking an FX deal, the core task. Before vs. after the redesign.

anxious, opaque rate-guessing→
the full quote, clear before you book.

Five steps to a rate that might already have moved, now market rate, margin and profit shown together, with a visible 90-second countdown.

The decision. Make the full price visible. Market rate, margin, profit and the 90-second booking window now sit in one reviewable view, removing the uncertainty users described in research.

04 · Process

make the full price easy to verify.

Research identified the anxiety. Prototypes made the complete quote visible. Sprint testing confirmed where users needed reassurance.

in their own words

“By the time I confirm the rate, it's moved, and I've lost face with the client.”
Rashed A.Relationship Manager · Corporate
“I need market rate, margin and profit on one screen, or I'm booking blind.”
Lena H.Treasury Trader
“If a special rate breaches my authority, I need to know before I book, not after.”
Omar S.Senior RM · Special rates
the bet

Burying fees until checkout nudges conversion short-term. I showed rate, fee and final amount together instead, total cost upfront, because trust is the whole product.

find the real fear

Interviews showed the blocker wasn't speed, it was not trusting the rate and fearing hidden fees.

prototype the transparent quote

Designed a quote that shows rate, fee and exact amount received together, with a locked-rate countdown.

validate with real users

Usability-tested the transparent flow vs. the old one, faster transfers and far higher trust in the rate.

ship a responsive system

Delivered a responsive design system so the flow stayed consistent across mobile, tablet and desktop.

05 · Solution

the clear quote, made visible.

From the dense legacy trader terminal to one clear deal-order canvas, verify the client, see rate, margin & profit together, and book before the 90-second window closes.

legacy Refinitiv FX trading terminal FX Online
before · Refinitiv terminal
after · FX Online

drag to compare ⇆

06 · The flow

the deal order, step by step.

01

start the trade

The RM opens a clean deal-order canvas, setup on the left, live amounts and rate on the right.

02

verify the client (CIF)

One tap confirms the customer and pulls their details, no re-typing what the bank already knows.

03

rate, margin & profit, together

Market quotes, post-margin rates and the live booking countdown, all in one confident view.

04

rate timed out? refresh, don't panic

When the 90-second rate expires, a clear timeout state lets the RM refresh instead of guessing.

details fill from the client's last deal. the RM confirms rather than re-types.
the market rate springs between values and counts down, so the number you book stays honest.
07 · Design decisions

guardrails on a high-stakes screen.

special rate screen
1Inline guardrail: a special margin beyond the RM's authority (DOA) warns immediately, before submit, not after.
2Client identity stays pinned at the top so the RM never loses context mid-negotiation.
3A live market-quotes table makes the rate logic legible instead of hidden in a back-end.
a deliberate commit: press-and-hold, a short processing beat, then unmistakable confirmation. why not one-tap? for an irreversible booking, that final beat is what prevents a costly, unrecoverable mistake.
08 · Screens

the full picture.

deal order · empty
verify CIF
rate + countdown
rate timeout
special rate · guardrail
09 · Impact

what changed, three ways.

For the RM & trader
↑ 40%

Lift in perceived task clarity, faster, more confident deal capture under the 90-second window.

For the business
↑ 262Mn

AED booked through FX Online by May 2025, across 16,265 deals.

For the org
↑ 400+

RMs & Traders on one responsive system, consistent across desk and device.

live-platform figures · reported by the business, May 2025

10 · Reflection

we made a 90-second window feel calm.

Confidence came from showing the right complexity at the decision point. Rate, margin, profit and time now live on one canvas, so users can verify a deal before the market moves.

The responsive system gives future currencies and workflows the same transparent foundation.

Good fintech design isn't flashy, it's a trader and an RM agreeing a rate in ninety seconds and both knowing, with total certainty, exactly what they just booked.
The principle behind the platform
11 · Beyond the Figma file

Trust, built into the system.

A responsive design system, handed to engineering so cost-clarity held across every device and future flow.

Accessible by default: AA-contrast tokens, clear focus states, and legible numerals for amounts and rates.

✕