If you thought ‘selfies’ were just for publicity-hungry celebrities and attention-seekers then think again.
如果你認為只有那些高調的社會名流和想吸引別人眼球的人才會自拍，那你就錯了。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.
不久的將來，勞埃德銀行（Lloyds）的客戶可以通過他們的智能手機或平板電腦上傳自己的個人相片，以創建銀行賬戶或是申請辦理信用卡。

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.
申請資料上必須附有客戶護照或駕照上的照片。但如果勞埃德銀行的電腦系統通過了客戶的自拍照，且這一照片同護照上的照片吻合，那么電腦系統會將這些照片傳送給一位員工。

Once double checked, customers will receive an email within 15 minutes to say if the application has been approved.
再次確認之后，客戶將會在十五分鐘之內收到一封郵件，詢問他們是否允許這一程序運行。

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.
勞埃德銀行聲稱，這種方法將幫助成千上萬的客戶，因為現在大約有三分之一的客戶在網上申請開戶或辦理信用卡時，都需要帶相關的證明材料。

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戶：剛到英國的外國人，可能不在選民名冊上的年輕人，或者是一些由于信息太少，以至于信用調查機構無法證實他們身份的人。

The new electronic identification and verification checks will be introduced next week for existing customers wanting to set up a joint account.
對于那些想要開通共同賬戶的現有客戶，這種新型的電子身份認證和驗證檢查將于下星期開始采用。

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.
對于勞埃德銀行、哈里福克斯公司（Halifax）以及蘇格蘭銀行（Bank of Scotland）所提供的活期存款賬戶、儲蓄賬戶和信用卡，這一服務將在今年夏天面向所有程序開放。

But while it may make life easier for many customers, it comes as all the High Street lenders are closing hundreds of branches to slash costs.
雖然這一服務可能會使許多客戶的生活變得更方便，但它就像是所有商業大街的貸款人為了降低成本而關閉上百家分行。

Derek French, director of the Campaign for Community Banking Services, said:
社區銀行服務活動的主要負責人德里克?弗蘭奇（Derek French）說：

‘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.’
“這種現象是目前普遍的一種趨勢。銀行正不斷地把客戶推向網上辦理業務，但仍有很大一部分人，特別是老年人，根本不想在網上辦理業務，或者是不會在網上辦理業務。”

Vocabulary

selfie: 自拍
application: 應用
electoral roll: 選民名冊
verification: 確認
slash: 削減

（譯者：hyylf 編輯：王偉）