FX platform · Morocco
In Morocco, SMEs that want to import or export goods have to run a three-stop obstacle course for every transaction. First they go to Portnet to file the paperwork their import or export requires. Then they visit a FX house to convert the money they want to move. Finally, they walk into a bank to actually execute the transfer. Three institutions, three trips, three points of friction, for a single cross-border payment.
CaixaBank already had a foothold in Morocco, mainly serving large corporations, but through a platform that wasn't pulling its weight. The goal was to redesign that desktop platform on top of CaixaBank's existing platform backend, so it could serve both imports and exports and work for large companies and SMEs alike. The redesigned product brings the whole journey into one place: it simplifies transfers abroad and domestically, folds in Portnet's requirements, and stays aligned with the country's regulations, turning that three-stop errand into a single guided flow.
Apr 2025 – Present
Apr–May 2025
Research & architecture
Benchmark, information architecture, and first wireframes.
Jun–Jul 2025
Visual system
Adapted CaixaBank's design system to the new branding, typography, and colors.
Jul 2025
First user testing
Tested the early flows with users in Morocco.
Jul–Sep 2025
Core flows
Designed the key journeys: import, export, login, and support.
Oct 2025 – Feb 2026
Transfers, FX & iteration
Refined the transfer flows, added currency exchange, and iterated on testing feedback.
Feb 2026 – now
Documentation & launch
Owned the project solo through documentation and flow refinement, launched MVP1, and continue improving it.
CaixaBank Morocco needed an FX experience their SME clients could trust without a relationship manager on the line. We rebuilt the journey around transparency: one price, one timeline, one flow.
CaixaBank had a foothold in Morocco mainly serving large corporations, but its platform wasn't pulling its weight. There was an opportunity to redesign the experience so it could serve both large companies and SMEs, and handle imports, exports and transfers in one place.
SMEs importing or exporting goods had to visit Portnet, an FX house and a bank for every transaction — a three-stop obstacle course with three points of friction for a single cross-border payment.
I led the timeline from the UX side and worked hands-on as a UX/UI designer — running research and facilitating sessions with the business and technology teams to land a product we could realistically build and genuinely wanted to create, given both the needs and the deadlines.
Making sense of what was already there
By the time I joined, a first round of interviews had already been run and the business team had gathered a base of information. My job was to make sense of it, but I didn't want to work from the raw data alone. Alongside the benchmark of comparable platforms and the previous research, I ran a co-creation session with the business team, using an empathy map to surface the key insights together and align on where we wanted to go as we started building. Combining that shared understanding with the benchmark and the earlier findings gave me a clear roadmap: what mattered most, what good looked like, and where the real opportunities were.
Architecture
This stage was mostly about getting the architecture right. Rather than defining the structure on my own, I ran a card sorting exercise and co-creation sessions with the technology and business teams to build the map together, grounding the platform's structure in how the business actually worked and what was technically feasible from the start. That shared architecture then translated into lo-fi flows, which we tested with users and a way to learn how to design each flow efficiently, simplify the experience, and stay honest about the technical limitations we were working within.
Once the branding agency delivered the colors, the first job was adaptation, building on CaixaBank's design system, identifying which components mattered most, and applying solid design principles and accessibility standards, with the added constraint that the client wanted this first version in dark mode. The goal was to fit the new brand without losing consistency.
Over the first four months we designed the platform's core journeys. I took ownership of the global position (dashboard), the import transfer flows (domestic and international), export transfers, and currency exchange, along with the homepage, domestic transfers, and the profile and account landing pages. To keep the work aligned across a large platform, I structured the design roadmap so each section shipped in four phases — wireframes, UI prototype, copy, and test each with sign-off from both the PO and the business side.
I then took part in user testing that CaixaBank organized with our prototypes. The feedback was very positive: users understood the flows well, and only minor adjustments were needed to sharpen clarity.
From there, the work shifted from building to refining. I've spent the following months improving and unifying every flow, writing guidelines, and reorganizing the whole system so we could work more closely with development moving to a branch-based design methodology and adding new flows like urgent transfers and bank statements.
The platform is live. Users are now moving goods and services across currencies in a single outbound flow, and receiving SWIFT payments distributed straight into their accounts, with the currency exchange handled inside the same platform, no third stop required. We continue to add tools and improvements on an ongoing basis.
This project taught me how to coordinate across different product teams, sharpening how I communicate and looking for efficiency in the way we worked with development. It also taught me how to hold the objective steady through change: when leadership shifted on the business side, keeping everyone anchored to the same goal became part of my job, and I learned to be the thread of continuity when the context around the project moved.
Want the full walkthrough?
Happy to walk you through the research, the iterations and the final screens in detail.
Ask me about this project