隨著手機銀行應用的普及，英國高街上遍布各家銀行的景象可能隨之一去不返。 Simon Gompertz 報道手機銀行應用的流行趨勢。

In a small office behind London's King's Cross station a band of technology entrepreneurs is setting up a bank with 140 staff to offer what traditional banks need tens of thousands of people to provide. It is Tandem Bank, which will have an app and a small call centre.

Two hundred and fifty miles away in Durham, Atom Bank has been given a licence too. You won't even need a password to log into an account on its app – it'll recognise your face or your voice.

More start-up banks are set to follow. The Bank of England is talking to 26 candidates for licences – among them several budding app-only operations.

Despite evidence that people are fearful of switching banks, they are targeting millions of customers.

詞匯表

entrepreneurs （復數(shù)）創(chuàng)業(yè)者
call centre 電話服務中心
licence 許可，執(zhí)照
password 密碼，口令
recognise 識別，認出
budding 剛起步的，成長中的
switching 更換

測驗

請聽報道并回答下列問題。

1. How many people work for Tandem Bank?

2. True or False? You need to remember a special word to access your app-only bank account.

3. Who decides if these banks can operate or not?

4. What's the challenge these new banks face, according to the report?

答案

1. How many people work for Tandem Bank?
It has a staff of 140 people.

2. True or False? You need to remember a special word to access your app-only bank account.
False. Some of these app-only banks give you access through voice or face recognition.

3. Who decides if these banks can operate or not?
The Bank of England.

4. What's the challenge these new banks face, according to the report?
Customers are fearful of switching banks.