Grand View Research projects the global neobanking market to hit $66.82 billion in 2022. So, it’s only reasonable for the first fully virtual and Sharia-compliant international bank to become a top choice for UK and Middle East users with international lifestyles. A joint venture of BLME and Boubyan Bank, the Nomo app makes the cross-border banking experience as smooth as ever.
TEAM partnered with Nomo in October 2021 to augment the client’s team with the necessary IT expertise and help develop a powerful online banking app. Today we sat down with Oleksandr, Team Lead on the Nomo project, to discuss what promotes a successful team-client collaboration and how our skilled engineers help get things done.
About technology
TEAM: How would you describe Nomo to our readers?
Oleksandr: Besides being compliant with Sharia finance laws, it’s a UK-licensed neobank designed to meet Middle Eastern clients’ needs. Nomo simplifies banking for its users living or traveling in the UK and globally by providing them with fully digital UK current accounts. Plus, young people who study abroad love our app for the convenience of accessing the digital UK account from the phone while staying in the Middle East.
TEAM: And why does Nomo stand out among competitors? We know the fintech sector is one of the fastest-growing in the Middle East and Africa.
Oleksandr: In general, yes, the fintech market is super competitive. But when it comes to Nomo, it’s the only Sharia-compliant international digital bank that focuses on the Middle East. Traditionally, only private banking clients can easily access international banking opportunities.
Additionally, we provide an intuitive, fast, and secure platform with a holistic set of cutting-edge neobanking features. For instance, you get daily banking and cross-border transactions, while investment and wealth management tools are coming soon too. Clients in Kuwait and other GCC countries can open GBP and USD accounts literally from anywhere using only the Nomo app, passport, and civil ID. You just need an Apple device—Nomo takes care of the rest.
TEAM: Wow, sounds impressive! We know that building such a platform requires a sophisticated tech stack. Could you tell us a bit about Nomo’s tech backbone?
Oleksandr: We’ve divided it into multiple domains:
- Onboarding
- Banking
- Payments
- Wealth
- Property finance
Each domain operates its own service or set of services. Most of them are serverless and built on top of a serverless framework using JavaScript. There’s also a GraphQL gateway for client-server communication and various AWS services like SNS, SQS, and EventBridge for internal communication. Some conventional services in Go run in Kubernetes. Moreover, we plan to migrate other existing services to run in containers and manage cross-service communication through Temporal.IO-driven workflows.
About teams
TEAM: Moving on to team-client communication—what methodology do you follow? What does your typical flow look like?
Oleksandr: We’ve been a part of the client’s team from the beginning. So, we’re pretty deeply integrated into Nomo and communicate daily. We follow the traditional Scrum methodology with two-week sprints, standups and planning, backlog refinements, and retrospective sessions. Also, since a Scrum master has joined the team, we’ve been refining our communication and collaboration workflows.
TEAM: Let’s talk about the people behind the code. Can you describe your team culture as a part of the Nomo ecosystem?
Oleksandr: The atmosphere in the team is comfortable and friendly—everyone is open-minded and happy to help or answer your questions. What’s more, we operate in small groups of up to 5 people, so you get to know your teammates really quickly. Such an approach also facilitates and speeds up the adaptation period for newcomers.
TEAM: In your opinion, what are the main principles for building successful team-client relations?
Oleksandr: Readiness to take responsibility for your actions, invest your expertise into a client’s product success, and be creative and respectful. By the way, if that sounds familiar to our readers, consider joining us today. Currently, we are looking for Node.js and Senior Full-Stack engineers.
TEAM: Now that you’ve mentioned it, what competencies or traits are you looking for in candidates?
Oleksandr: We expect solid programming skills and a good understanding of OOP, related patterns, and best practices. Our team also maintains high test coverage, so good test automation experience is a must. From more experienced engineers, we expect AWS knowledge and expertise in microservices.
About project future
TEAM: Could you shed some light on the client’s growth plans?
Oleksandr: Well, we’re seeking talented engineers to augment our teams. Meanwhile, we are actively exploring the options to roll out Nomo to more Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE.
TEAM: Speaking about growth, why should candidates join the Nomo project? What do you like most about working with TEAM International?
Oleksandr: A good IT company is like a good project manager—you don’t notice it exists until you need it for some reason. I consider TEAM a comfortable workplace because it’s not too big to lose your personality and become just a “resource,” but still big enough to feel confident and stable. And you’ll meet many friendly and talented people here as well.
TEAM: And finally, what encouragement would you give to newcomers joining your team?
Oleksandr: You’re in for a fantastic experience alongside industry leaders and innovators!
Visit Nomo’s website to find out more about the product. Or contact us to apply for the Nomo project today.
