Embedding local bank installment options directly into Shopify checkout

About the project

iStyle, an Apple Premium Reseller with operations across Central and Eastern Europe, wanted to offer installment-based payment options directly at checkout.

Shopify’s native platform didn’t support regional banks, so iStyle required a custom-built integration to connect with TBI Bank and Cofidis Express, enabling flexible, localized financing for customers in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary.

The project involved building two off-site Shopify payment extensions that securely communicate with each bank’s gateway through the Shopify Payments Apps Platform. The project was unique because it was not just another extension. The integrations were built as official payment methods using Shopify’s invite-only Payments Platform, available only to approved partners and Shopify Plus merchants.

Client Challenges

A specialized implementation like this came with several challenges. Some of them were:

1. Integrating regional banks (TBI Bank and Cofidis Express) not supported by Shopify’s default PSP catalog
2. Supporting multiple currencies (for Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary) with strict country-to-currency mapping
3. Building secure, compliant payment flows with encryption, signature validation, and idempotent processing
4. Synchronizing asynchronous approval flows, where banks finalize payments through callbacks or delayed updates
5. Navigating Shopify’s approval and legal review process for custom payment methods, where Magebit’s role as an approved Shopify Plus Partner helped move the project forward
6. Meeting tight deadlines to deliver before the iPhone launch in August 2025 for Romania

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The role of Magebit
^{Where digital magic comes to life}

The iStyle project brought together complexity, compliance, and creativity, everything that makes digital engineering exciting. Our goal was to deliver secure, localized payment experiences for Apple customers across Central and Eastern Europe. By combining deep Shopify expertise with fintech-grade architecture, we helped iStyle launch faster, safer, and smarter.

• Strategic and technical alignment
  From the start, our collaboration went beyond implementation. We worked with iStyle’s regional teams to define payment flows, compliance rules, and user experience standards across three markets, ensuring every decision supported scalability and speed to market.‍
• Architecture built for performance and control
  Integrating two regional banks into Shopify’s Payments Platform required a solid technical backbone. We built a Remix-based application with GraphQL, Prisma, and PostgreSQL, designed for high reliability, background reconciliation, and smooth asynchronous processing.
• Security at every layer
  Financial data demanded rigorous protection. We implemented AES-256-CTR encryption, TLS certificate-based authentication, and idempotent transaction handling, ensuring every session, callback, and reconciliation met enterprise-grade standards.
• ‍Partnership for continuous evolution
  After launch, the collaboration evolved into ongoing support, fine-tuning transaction logic, monitoring performance, and preparing for new financing partners and regions. Our long-term focus remains the same: make every checkout experience simpler, faster, and more secure.