A “truly digital bank” called Atom is set to be launched in the UK market next year by the former bosses of Metro Bank and First Direct.

There will be no bank branches or telephone banking services, but personal and business customers will be offered a full range of products through the internet and mobile apps.

Atom Bank is scheduled to open its virtual doors in the first half of 2015, and will be led by Anthony Thomson, founder and former chairman of Metro Bank, and Mark Mullen, who was CEO of First Direct.

The products on offer will include mortgages, current accounts, savings accounts, loans and credit cards. There will be a free telephone helpline for customers experiencing technical difficulties, but they will not be able to carry out any transactions over the phone.

Thomson told The Telegraph: “Our aim is to make it so simple to operate online that it is faster than the time it takes to call someone.

“There will be some people who always want to use a branch, and some will use the telephone, but there are enough people who are digitally literate to make Atom a success,” he continued. “We think because of the low cost base that the bank will have, we will offer superior service and good value products.”

Speaking about the bank he founded in 2007, Thomson added: “Metro Bank was always about service and convenience, and the physical branch location was the obvious manifest of that. [But] the world has moved on. The rate of change in mobile in particular has just been so fast that opening a bank with bank branches would be like BT putting telephone kiosks back on the High Street.”

Atom will be based in the north-east of England and is currently in the process of applying for a banking licence.

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