If you thought ‘selfies’ were just for publicity-hungry celebrities and attention-seekers then think again.

　　如果你认为只有那些高调的社会名流和想吸引别人眼球的人才会自拍，那你就错了。不妨再好好想想。

　　Customers at Lloyds will soon be able to set up an account or take out a credit card by sending a photo of themselves from their smartphone or tablet.

　　不久的将来，劳埃德银行（Lloyds）的客户可以通过他们的智能手机或平板电脑上传自己的个人相片，以创建银行账户或是申请办理信用卡。

　　It must be accompanied by a photo of their passport or driving licence – but if Lloyds’ computer systems are satisfied that the ‘selfie’ and passport photo match up, they will be passed to an employee.

　　申请资料上必须附有客户护照或驾照上的照片。但如果劳埃德银行的电脑系统通过了客户的自拍照，且这一照片同护照上的照片吻合，那么电脑系统会将这些照片传送给一位员工。

　　Once double checked, customers will receive an email within 15 minutes to say if the application has been approved.

　　再次确认之后，客户将会在十五分钟之内收到一封邮件，询问他们是否允许这一程序运行。

　　自拍也能开户 银行业务一拍就搞定

　　Lloyds claims this will help hundreds of thousands of customers, as roughly one in three are currently asked to bring in identification documents when applying online to open a bank account or credit card.

　　劳埃德银行声称，这种方法将帮助成千上万的客户，因为现在大约有三分之一的客户在网上申请开户或办理信用卡时，都需要带相关的证明材料。

　　These are typically new customers, foreigners who have just arrived in the UK, and young people - who may not be on the electoral roll, or have too little information stored on them by credit reference agencies to verify their ID.

　　例如一些典型的新客户：刚到英国的外国人，可能不在选民名册上的年轻人，或者是一些由于信息太少，以至于信用调查机构无法证实他们身份的人。

　　The new electronic identification and verification checks will be introduced next week for existing customers wanting to set up a joint account.

　　对于那些想要开通共同账户的现有客户，这种新型的电子身份认证和验证检查将于下星期开始采用。

　　The service will then be opened for all applications for current accounts, savings accounts and credit cards offered by Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland by the Summer.

　　对于劳埃德银行、哈里福克斯公司（Halifax）以及苏格兰银行（Bank of Scotland）所提供的活期存款账户、储蓄账户和信用卡，这一服务将在今年夏天面向所有程序开放。

　　But while it may make life easier for many customers, it comes as all the High Street lenders are closing hundreds of branches to slash4 costs.

　　虽然这一服务可能会使许多客户的生活变得更方便，但它就像是所有商业大街的贷款人为了降低成本而关闭上百家分行。

　　Derek French, director of the Campaign for Community Banking5 Services, said:

　　社区银行服务活动的主要负责人德里克?弗兰奇（Derek French）说：

　　‘This is part of a general trend. Banks are pushing and pushing their customers to go online, but there is a large section of the population - particularly the elderly - that simply don’t want to, or don’t have access to this technology.’

　　“这种现象是目前普遍的一种趋势。银行正不断地把客户推向网上办理业务，但仍有很大一部分人，特别是老年人，根本不想在网上办理业务，或者是不会在网上办理业务。”

　　Vocabulary

　　selfie: 自拍

　　application: 应用

　　electoral roll: 选民名册

　　verification: 确认

　　slash: 削减

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