FinTech companies face a fundamental tension: they need to move fast to stay competitive, but they also need to meet increasingly complex regulatory requirements. The infrastructure powering financial applications must be robust, scalable, and compliant with stringent security, privacy, and operational resilience standards that continue to evolve in 2025. From PCI DSS and SOC 2 compliance to newer regulations like DORA and MiCA, development teams must navigate a maze of requirements while maintaining the agility to innovate. The key is building infrastructure that embeds compliance into the development process rather than bolting it on as an afterthought.

1. The FinTech Infrastructure Challenge in 2025

FinTech companies now operate under multiple regulatory frameworks, including:

• PCI DSS for payment processing
• SOC 2 for security and availability
• GDPR/CCPA/CPRA for data privacy
• MiCA for crypto-asset issuances and trading (effective 2025)
• DORA for digital operational resilience
• AML Directive 6 for anti-money laundering measures
• Financial industry regulations (varying by country and product type)

Meeting these requirements typically demands:

1. Zero Trust Architecture with robust access controls and role-based permissions
2. Strong encryption at rest, in transit, and in use
3. Comprehensive audit trails for all infrastructure changes and access events
4. Network segmentation and advanced security monitoring
5. Disaster recovery and operational resilience planning
6. AI-powered threat detection and response capabilities

2. Building Compliant Infrastructure with Convox

Convox offers a platform that simplifies the deployment and management of applications while helping maintain compliance. Here's how Convox can be used to meet various regulatory requirements:

Zero Trust Network Architecture

Network security is the foundation of a compliant FinTech infrastructure. Convox makes it easy to create secure, isolated environments with zero-trust principles:

# Example convox.yml with security configurations
services:
  api:
    port: 3000
    internal: true  # Makes service accessible only within the Rack
  web:
    port: 8080
    environment:
      - API_URL=http://api.app.convox.local:3000

By setting internal: true, you create services that aren't exposed to the public internet, establishing a secure network boundary. This configuration supports the principle of least privilege—a key requirement for frameworks like PCI DSS and the new DORA regulations.

For AWS deployments, enhance security further with:

# Enable private networking for your Rack
convox rack params set private=true -r production

# Configure more restrictive security groups for specific services
convox rack params set nlb_security_group=sg-01234567 -r production

# Enable AWS Pod Identity for fine-grained IAM permissions
convox rack params set pod_identity_agent_enable=true -r production

Advanced Data Protection

Protecting sensitive financial data requires comprehensive encryption strategies and privacy controls to meet 2025 standards:

Encryption in Transit

Convox automatically provisions and manages SSL/TLS certificates:

services:
  web:
    domain: secure.fintech-app.com
    port: https:8080  # Use HTTPS for end-to-end encryption
    certificate:
      duration: 2160h  # Configurable certificate renewal period

For internal communications that require encryption:

services:
  db-service:
    port: https:5432
    internal: true

3. Implementing DevSecOps with Convox Workflows

Convox Workflows provide a powerful way to integrate security throughout your CI/CD pipeline directly from the Convox Console, aligning with 2025's heightened security requirements.

Creating Security-Enhanced CI/CD Workflows

1. Navigate to the Workflows tab in the Convox Console
2. Click "Create Workflow" and select either a Review Workflow (for pull requests) or Deployment Workflow (for production deployments)
3. Connect your repository by selecting from your integrated GitHub or GitLab accounts
4. Configure workflow settings:
   • Select the branch that triggers the workflow (e.g., main)
   • Enable test execution to run security scans
   • Configure pre- and post-promotion hooks for additional security steps
   • Set environment variables needed for security tooling

4. Access Control and Deployment Strategies

In a highly regulated environment like FinTech, controlling who has access to what resources is critical. Convox provides robust access control mechanisms to help maintain compliance:

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Convox's RBAC features allow for granular permission management based on specific roles and policies:

1. Creating Custom Roles: Navigate to the Users page in the Console and select the Roles tab. Here you can create new roles with specific permissions tailored to your organization's needs.
2. Assigning Roles to Users: From the Active Users tab, you can assign these custom roles to team members, ensuring each person has only the access they need to perform their job functions.
3. Resource-Specific Permissions: Roles can be configured with permissions for specific resources like applications, racks, and infrastructure settings. This implements the principle of least privilege, a key requirement for regulatory compliance.

For example, you might create roles like:

• DevOps Engineer: Full access to application deployments but limited access to user management
• Security Auditor: Read-only access to logs and configurations without modification rights
• FinTech Compliance Officer: Access to audit logs and infrastructure settings

Deploy Keys for Secure CI/CD Integration

For integrating with external CI/CD systems while maintaining security, Convox Deploy Keys provide a secure authentication method:

1. Creating a Deploy Key:
   • Go to the Settings section in the Convox Console
   • Navigate to the Deploy Keys section
   • Give your deploy key a name and click Create
   • The system will generate a secure key for external integrations

2. Using Deploy Keys in CI/CD Pipelines:
   • In your CI environment, use the deploy key with environment variables:

$ env CONVOX_HOST=console.convox.com CONVOX_PASSWORD=<deploy-key> convox deploy
$ env CONVOX_HOST=console.convox.com CONVOX_PASSWORD=<deploy-key> convox run web bin/migrate
$ env CONVOX_HOST=console.convox.com CONVOX_PASSWORD=<deploy-key> convox env set NODE_ENV=production FOO=bar ... --replace

3. Limited Scope for Security: Deploy keys have a deliberately limited set of permissions, ensuring that even if compromised, they can't be used for unauthorized administrative actions.

By implementing these access controls, FinTech companies can ensure that only authorized personnel can make changes to infrastructure and applications, providing the audit trail needed for regulatory compliance.

5. Operational Resilience and Disaster Recovery

To comply with DORA's requirements for digital operational resilience, organizations can implement a multi-region disaster recovery strategy using Convox Racks.

Multi-Region Deployment Strategy

1. Primary/Secondary Region Setup:
   • Install your primary production Rack from the Convox Console
   • Navigate to the Racks tab and click Install
   • Select your desired primary region
   • Configure parameters including efs_csi_driver_enable=true for durable storage
   • For your disaster recovery Rack, repeat the process but select a different geographic region

2. Minimal Resource Footprint for DR: Configure your DR Rack with cost-efficient parameters:

# Configure minimal footprint for cost efficiency
convox rack params set build_node_min_count=0 -r dr-rack
convox rack params set min_on_demand_count=1 -r dr-rack

3. Regular Data Synchronization: Set up automated data replication between regions using a timer service:

# Add to your convox.yml
timers:
  db-sync:
    schedule: "0 2 * * *"  # Daily sync at 2 AM
    command: bin/sync-database-to-dr.sh
    service: worker

Your sync script would handle the logic for database dumps, transfers, and imports to the DR environment.

4. Scheduled DR Testing: Implement automated testing of your DR environment to ensure operational readiness:

timers:
  dr-test:
    schedule: "0 1 * * 0"  # Weekly test at 1 AM on Sundays
    command: bin/dr-test.sh
    service: worker

This multi-region approach satisfies DORA's requirements for operational resilience by providing geographically diverse infrastructure that can be rapidly activated in case of a regional outage, ensuring continuity of critical financial services.

Conclusion

Building compliant FinTech infrastructure in 2025 doesn't have to mean sacrificing developer experience or innovation velocity. With Convox, you can implement security and compliance controls while maintaining the agility your team needs to build cutting-edge financial products.

By following the strategies outlined in this playbook, you can create a secure, compliant infrastructure foundation that satisfies regulators while empowering your developers to focus on what they do best: building innovative financial solutions that meet the evolving needs of your customers.

Ready to build compliant FinTech infrastructure that doesn't slow down your team? Contact us to learn how Convox can help, or get started free today.