Nomo Bank

Nomo Bank is a UK digital bank that provides Islamic banking: a current account, savings and home finance for buying or refinancing residential property in the UK, all built to be Sharia-compliant, which means the bank neither charges nor pays interest. Its sister brand is BLME, the wider corporate and private banking business of the same firm. Nomo operates mainly through its smartphone app, with customer support available in English or Arabic, reflecting its focus on customers who want Islamic finance in the UK, including people with financial ties to the Gulf region.

Its home finance product, Nomo Residential Property Finance, lets you fix the bank's profit rate for 2 or 5 years, on either an amortising or a profit-only repayment basis¹. Money held with Nomo is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000 per person, and because Nomo and BLME share one banking licence, that limit is shared across all accounts you hold with both names².

What Nomo Bank offers: Islamic banking without interest

Nomo Bank sells three main things: a current account, savings, and home finance for buying or refinancing residential property in the UK. What marks all of them out is that they are designed to be Sharia-compliant. In Islamic finance, both charging and paying interest are not considered Sharia-compliant, so the products are built around profit rates and asset-based structures instead⁴. That has practical consequences for what you can and cannot get: Islamic banks do not offer overdrafts, for example, because an overdraft is a loan on which the bank charges interest⁴.

The current account side works much like any UK app-based bank account: you get a card, you can make payments, and you manage everything through the app. The savings side works on the same principle as other Sharia-compliant savings accounts in the UK market: rather than receiving interest, savers receive a share of profit that the bank declares, and the bank aims for an expected profit rate rather than guaranteeing one⁴. If you are comparing Nomo with conventional banks, the guides to current accounts, savings accounts and ISAs explain how each product type normally works, and what to look for in any provider.

The home finance product is for residential property in the UK. Nomo describes it as available on an amortising or profit-only repayment basis, with the bank profit rate fixed for either 2 or 5 years¹. If you are new to how home purchase finance works generally, the guides to mortgages and buying a home cover the process, the checks and the costs involved, most of which apply equally to Islamic home finance.

How profit rates replace interest

In a conventional mortgage, the bank lends you money and charges interest on it. In Islamic home finance, the structure is different: the bank's return is expressed as a profit rate, and the finance is tied to the underlying property rather than to a loan of money at interest. The practical effect for a customer is that the numbers work in a similar way: there is a rate, it can be fixed for a period, and there are monthly payments. The difference is in how the bank earns its return and how the arrangement complies with Sharia principles⁴.

With Nomo Residential Property Finance, you can fix the bank profit rate for either 2 or 5 years at the start¹. When that fixed period ends, the finance moves to the Nomo follow-on rate, which Nomo sets and publishes on its own site. Nomo states that its follow-on rate is currently set at a particular level, but because rates change, check Nomo's own website for today's figure rather than relying on any figure quoted elsewhere¹. The repayment basis is your choice at the outset: amortising, where each payment reduces the balance as well as covering the bank's profit, or profit-only, where the payments cover the profit and the original amount is settled at the end, in the way an interest-only mortgage works at a conventional bank¹.

One thing worth knowing as a general principle: because the profit rate is the bank's return rather than interest, the way it is described differs from a conventional mortgage, but your obligations as a customer are set out in the same kind of contract, and the same regulatory protections apply to the firm. Nomo's permissions on the Financial Conduct Authority's register include entering into regulated mortgage contracts as a lender and accepting deposits³, so its home finance is a regulated mortgage contract, not an unregulated arrangement.

Charges and how changes to them are notified

Nomo does not publish a single tariff of charges in the material available here, and charges for Islamic banking products change over time, so treat Nomo's own website and app as the source for today's figures. What does not change is the rule on how a bank can change its charges. Under the Financial Conduct Authority's rules for retail banking services, where a firm proposes to make a change to any term or condition, a change to any charge, or a material change to any rate of interest that applies to the service and that will be to the disadvantage of the customer, the firm should provide reasonable notice before the change takes effect⁵.

In practice this means Nomo cannot quietly increase a charge or worsen a term: it has to tell you first, in a durable form such as a letter, an email or an app notification you can keep. If a change is to your disadvantage and you have not been given notice, that is grounds for a complaint. The same rules apply to changes to the profit rate on savings and home finance as they do to conventional banks' interest rates, because the rule covers material changes to rates that apply to the service⁵.

It is also worth knowing that some everyday banking actions carry no charge anywhere in the UK market: banks do not charge for depositing coins, for example⁶. Where Nomo does charge, for things such as foreign transactions or replacement cards, the amounts will be in its terms and conditions, and any change to them must follow the notice rule above.

Banking with Nomo: the app and customer support

Nomo is an app-based bank: there is no branch network, and day-to-day banking is done on your phone. Most banks have their own smartphone and tablet apps, available in the Google Play Store for Android and the App Store for Apple devices, which let you check your balance and send payments once you have set up online banking⁷. Nomo's app is where you open an account, manage your card, send money and view your statements.

Customer support is available by phone, in English or Arabic, during these hours¹:

The Arabic-language support is unusual among UK banks and is one of Nomo's distinguishing features: it is aimed at customers who prefer to discuss their money in Arabic, including those with family or business links to the Gulf. Outside support hours, the app continues to work for payments, balance checks and card controls, so an out-of-hours problem is usually about fraud or a lost card rather than ordinary banking tasks. If you are less confident with banking apps, the general guidance is that once online banking is set up, the app lets you do most things yourself without visiting anyone⁷, and support organisations such as Age UK publish help with getting started with online banking⁷.

Opening and closing a Nomo account

To open a bank account in the UK, you usually fill in an application form, in a branch, online, or sometimes over the phone, and provide proof of identity including your full name, date of birth and address⁸. With an app-based bank like Nomo, the application is done in the app: you will be asked to confirm your identity, usually by photographing a document and yourself, and to give your address details. The bank then runs the standard checks that all regulated banks must run, including anti-money-laundering checks.

There is no credit check barrier of the kind that applies to borrowing, because Nomo's accounts do not include credit: as an Islamic bank it does not offer overdrafts, so the account is closer in shape to a basic bank account than to a full credit-enabled current account. Basic bank accounts exist precisely for people who want an account without borrowing: they will not let you borrow money, or have an overdraft or cheque book⁹. If you are refused an account, the bank must tell you why and how to complain, including how to take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service¹⁰.

Closing an account is done by contacting the bank and asking it to close it. Before you do, it is worth checking that any payments due in, such as salary or benefits, and any payments due out, such as bills, have been moved to another account, because a closed account will stop processing them. If you are moving to a new bank, the guide to switching your bank account explains how the current account switch service works, including that it moves your payments for you and that if you are not happy with how the switch went, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service¹¹.

Lost cards, fraud and unrecognised payments

If your Nomo card is lost or stolen, or you spot a transaction you did not make, contact your bank immediately, using the phone number on the back of your card if you still have it, or the contact details in the app if you do not¹². The same advice applies if you have lost money to a scam: contact your bank immediately using the number on the back of your card¹³. Speed matters, because the sooner the bank knows, the sooner it can block the card and start any recovery process. If you have lost money, you may be able to recover it via your bank, particularly where the payment was unauthorised¹⁴.

The everyday habits that protect you are the same with Nomo as with any bank:

• Check your transactions regularly for payments you do not recognise¹²
• Turn on your bank alerts and check your accounts regularly; if you see spending you do not recognise, contact your bank immediately¹⁵
• Contact your bank immediately if you spot transactions on your statements that you do not recognise¹⁶

Unrecognised items on a statement are also a warning sign of identity theft, not just card fraud, so if you see them, it is worth checking your credit report as well as reporting to your bank¹⁷. Scam victims can get support from charities as well as from the bank: organisations such as Age UK publish help for scam victims, including on recovering money¹⁴. For customers who cannot memorise a PIN, banks can provide chip and signature cards, an adjustment that exists across the market for disabled customers¹⁸.

Nomo does not publish a fixed delivery time for replacement cards in the material available here, so ask its support team when you report the loss. The block on the old card takes effect immediately, so the gap is only in having a physical card, not in the security of your account.

Nomo does not allow overdrafts

Nomo does not offer overdrafts on its accounts. This is not a commercial choice specific to Nomo but a feature of Islamic banking generally: Islamic banks do not offer overdrafts, because both charging and paying interest are not considered Sharia-compliant⁴. An overdraft is a borrowing facility on which the bank charges interest, so it cannot be structured in a Sharia-compliant way.

In practice, this means a Nomo account will not let you go overdrawn: there is no overdraft facility¹⁹, the accounts do not let you be overdrawn²⁰, and you will not be able to borrow money through the account⁹. This is the same shape as a basic bank account at a conventional bank, which also will not let you go overdrawn¹⁰. The consequence is that a payment may simply be declined if there is not enough money in the account, rather than the account slipping into the red and accruing charges.

For some people this is a benefit: if you are recovering from problem debt, an account with no overdraft removes the temptation and the risk of building up interest-bearing debt, which is why debt charities often suggest accounts of this kind¹⁹. For others it is a limitation: if your budget sometimes runs short before payday, there is no buffer, so you would need a separate plan for short-term gaps. If an overdraft is important to you, a conventional bank account is where that facility exists, and the guides to current accounts and debt cover the alternatives.

Making a complaint and taking it to the ombudsman

If something goes wrong with a Nomo account, savings or home finance, the first step is always to complain to the bank itself: before bringing a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, the company involved must be given the chance to deal with it²¹. Make a formal complaint rather than just raising it in conversation, because the formal complaint starts the clock on the bank's obligations: it has eight weeks to investigate and give you a final response²². If it does not send a final response within eight weeks, or you are unhappy with the response, you can bring the complaint to the ombudsman²³.

The ombudsman is free to use and independent. It covers banking complaints of all kinds, from disputed transactions to how a switch was handled, and it can look at complaints about home finance as well as accounts²⁴. If you feel you have been treated unfairly, including if you think you have been unfairly refused an account or had one closed, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are not satisfied with how the bank dealt with your complaint²⁵.

Keep a note of when you complained and what you were told, and keep copies of any letters or messages. If the complaint is about fraud on your account and you are not happy with the way your bank deals with it, you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service²⁸. The ombudsman's decision is binding on the bank if you accept it, and there is no charge to you for using the service.

FSCS protection shared with BLME deposits

Nomo Bank is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which may provide compensation if the bank cannot meet its obligations¹. The FSCS protects deposits up to £120,000 per person per banking licence. The critical detail for Nomo customers is the licence: Nomo Bank is a trading name of Bank of London and The Middle East plc, so money in Nomo accounts and money in BLME accounts counts together towards one £120,000 limit, not one limit each³.

This is how the scheme works across the market: if you have money in multiple accounts with multiple banks that are part of the same banking group and share a banking licence, they are treated as one bank, with the £120,000 limit applying across all the accounts². Where a current account and a savings account share one authorisation number, they are classed as a single firm and the £120,000 limit is shared across both²⁹. So if you hold, say, a Nomo current account and savings, and also deposits with BLME, your total across all of them is protected only up to £120,000.

You can check any bank's protection yourself using the FSCS's own protection checker, which confirms whether a firm is covered and how the limits apply². The FSCS also publishes a full list of the banks, building societies and credit unions it covers³⁰. If you hold more than £120,000 across Nomo and BLME, the excess is not protected, and the way to keep full protection is to hold money with banks on separate licences, since the limit applies per banking group rather than per brand². The guide to consumer protection explains the wider framework, including the Financial Ombudsman Service and the rules on how banks treat customers.